2 Abakkolinso 3
1 Tutandike okwetendereza? Oba twetaaga ebbaluwa ez’okutusemba gye muli mmwe oba okuva gye muli ng’abalala?
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or are we like some who need letters of commendation to you, or from you?
2 Mmwe muli bbaluwa yaffe, ewandiikiddwa mu mitima gyaffe, emanyiddwa era esomebwa abantu bonna,
You yourselves are our letter – a letter written on our hearts, and one which everybody can read and understand.
3 ekiraga nti muli bbaluwa eva eri Kristo, enywezeddwa ffe, etaawandiikibwa na bwino, wabula na Mwoyo wa Katonda omulamu, si ku bipande eby’amayinja naye ku bipande by’emitima egy’omubiri.
All can see that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, a letter written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Obwo bwe bwesige bwe tulina eri Katonda nga tuyita mu Kristo.
This, then, is the confidence in regard to God that we have gained through the Christ.
5 Si lwa kubanga obwesige obwo buva mu ffe ku lwaffe, naye obwesige bwaffe buva eri Katonda,
I do not mean that we are fit to form any judgment by ourselves, as if on our own authority;
6 oyo ye yatusaanyiza okuba abaweereza b’endagaano empya etali ya nnukuta wabula ey’omwoyo. Kubanga ennukuta etta, naye omwoyo aleeta obulamu.
our fitness comes from God, who himself made us fit to be assistants of a new covenant, of which the substance is, not a written Law, but a Spirit. For the written Law means death, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Kale obanga obuweereza bw’amateeka agaleeta okufa agaayolebwa ku mayinja bwaleetebwa n’ekitiibwa kingi, eri abaana ba Isirayiri, abantu ne batasobola na kutunula mu maaso ga Musa, olw’ekitiibwa ekyali kiva ku maaso ge, ekyali kigenda okuggwaako,
If the system of religion which involved death, embodied in a written Law and engraved on stones, began amid such glory, that the Israelites were unable to gaze at the face of Moses because of its glory, though it was but a passing glory,
8 kale obuweereza obw’omwoyo tebulisinga nnyo okuba obw’ekitiibwa?
will not the religion that confers the Spirit have still greater glory?
9 Kuba obanga obuweereza bw’okusalirwa omusango bwa kitiibwa, obuweereza bw’obutuukirivu businga nnyo ekitiibwa.
For, if there was a glory in the religion that involved condemnation, far greater is the glory of the religion that confers righteousness!
10 Kubanga ekyaweebwa ekitiibwa tekyakiweebwa mu kigambo kino.
Indeed, that which then had glory has lost its glory, because of the glory which surpasses it.
11 Kale obanga ekyo ekiggwaawo kaakano kyajja n’ekitiibwa, ekyo ekitaggwaawo kisinga nnyo ekitiibwa kya kiri ekyasooka.
And, if that which was to pass away was attended with glory, far more will that which is to endure be surrounded with glory!
12 Olw’okuba n’essuubi eringi bwe lityo, kyetuva tuweereza n’obuvumu bungi,
With such a hope as this, we speak with all plainness;
13 so si nga Musa eyeebikkanga ku maaso ge, abaana ba Isirayiri baleme okulaba ekitiibwa bwe kiggwaako.
unlike Moses, who covered his face with a veil, to prevent the Israelites from gazing at the disappearance of what was passing away.
14 Naye ebirowoozo byabwe byakkakkanyizibwa kubanga n’okutuusa leero ekibikka ku maaso ekyo kikyali kye kimu kye beebikkanga nga basoma endagaano enkadde, kye bakyebikako nga bagisoma, tekyababikkulirwa, kubanga kiggyibwawo mu Kristo.
But their minds were slow to learn. Indeed, to this very day, at the public reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; only for those who are in union with Christ does it pass away.
15 Naye n’okutuusa leero, Musa bye yawandiika bwe bisomebwa, emitima gyabwe giba gibikiddwako essuuka.
But, even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts.
16 Naye buli muntu akyuka n’adda eri Mukama, abikkulwako essuuka eyo.
Yet, whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17 Kale nno Mukama ye Mwoyo, era buli Omwoyo wa Mukama w’abeera, wabaawo eddembe.
And the Lord is the Spirit, and, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 Kaakano ffe ffenna, amaaso gaffe nga gabikuddwa, ekitiibwa kya Katonda kyakaayakana mu ffe ng’endabirwamu emulisa ekitiibwa kye ne tukyusiibwa okumufaanana okuva mu kitiibwa okutuuka mu kitiibwa, ekiva eri Mukama waffe, Mwoyo.
And all of us, with faces from which the veil is lifted, seeing, as if reflected in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his likeness, from glory to glory, as it is given by the Lord, the Spirit.
