King James Version KJV
New Living Translation NLT
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
1 Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not!
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2 The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you.
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
3 Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
4 We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
6 He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
7 The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away.
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
8 Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
9 If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
10 In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
11 So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
12 Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.
13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
13 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away.
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
14 But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
15 Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.