Corinthios Ii 3
1 Incipimus iterum nosmetipsos commendare? aut numquid egemus (sicut quidam) commendatiis epistolis ad vos, aut ex vobis?
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 Epistola nostra vos estis, scripta in cordibus nostris, quæ scitur, et legitur ab omnibus hominibus:
You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 manifestati quod epistola estis Christi, ministrata a nobis, et scripta non atramento, sed spiritu Dei vivi: non in tabulis lapideis, sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus.
It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Fiduciam autem talem habemus per Christum ad Deum:
Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.
5 non quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid a nobis, quasi ex nobis: sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est:
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.
6 qui et idoneos nos fecit ministros novi testamenti: non littera, sed Spiritu: littera enim occidit, Spiritus autem vivificat.
And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Quod si ministratio mortis litteris deformata in lapidibus, fuit in gloria, ita ut non possent intendere filii Israel in faciem Moysi propter gloriam vultus eius, quæ evacuatur:
Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,
8 quomodo non magis ministratio Spiritus erit in gloria?
will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 Nam si ministratio damnationis gloria est: multo magis abundat ministerium iustitiæ in gloria.
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!
10 Nam nec glorificatum est, quod claruit in hac parte, propter excellentem gloriam.
Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.
11 Si enim quod evacuatur, per gloriam est: multo magis quod manet, in gloria est.
For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!
12 Habentes igitur talem spem, multa fiducia utimur:
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 et non sicut Moyses ponebat velamen super faciem suam, ut non intenderent filii Israel in faciem eius, quod evacuatur,
We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.
14 sed obtusi sunt sensus eorum. Usque in hodiernum enim diem, idipsum velamen in lectione veteris testamenti manet non revelatum, (quoniam in Christo evacuatur)
But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.
15 sed usque in hodiernum diem, cum legitur Moyses, velamen positum est super cor eorum.
And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 Cum autem conversus fuerit ad Dominum, auferetur velamen.
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Dominus autem Spiritus est: Ubi autem Spiritus Domini: ibi libertas.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 Nos vero omnes, revelata facie gloriam Domini speculantes, in eandem imaginem transformamur a claritate in claritatem, tamquam a Domini Spiritu.
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
