2 Corinthians 3

Modern

Literal

Ministers of a New Covenant

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or like some, do we need letters of recommendation to you or from you?

²You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

²You are our letter, having been inscribed in our hearts, being known and being read by all men,

³It 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.

³being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, having been ministered to by us, having been inscribed not in ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tablets of stone but in tablets of fleshly hearts.

⁴Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.

⁴Now we have such confidence through Christ toward God.

⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.

⁵Not that we are sufficient from ourselves to reckon anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,

⁶And 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.

⁶who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Glory of the New Covenant

⁷Now 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,

⁷Now if the ministry of death, having been engraved in letters on stones, came into being in glory so as for the sons of Israel not to be able to look intently into the face of Moses on account of the glory of his face that is fading away,

⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

⁸how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory?

⁹For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!

⁹For if in the ministry of condemnation was glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory!

¹⁰Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.

¹⁰For even that having been glorious has no glory in this respect, on account of the glory surpassing it.

¹¹For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!

¹¹For if that which is fading away was through glory, much more is that remaining in glory!

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

¹²Therefore having such a hope, we use much boldness,

¹³We 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.

¹³and not as Moses would put a veil over his face for the sons of Israel not to look intently into the end of what was fading away.

¹⁴But 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.

¹⁴But their minds were hardened; for until the present day, the same veil remains upon the reading of the old covenant, not being unveiled, which is removed in Christ.

¹⁵And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

¹⁵But until today when Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart.

¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

¹⁶But whenever one may turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, freedom is.

¹⁸And 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.

¹⁸And we all, having been unveiled in face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.