Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need (as some do) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?
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Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we?
2 You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men:
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You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all;
3 Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written: not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God: not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart.
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and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.
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Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.
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Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,
6 Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter but in the spirit. For the letter killeth: but the spirit quickeneth.
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who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious (so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance), which is made void:
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Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses' face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside,
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?
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how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.
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For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory!
10 For even that which was glorious in this part was not glorified by reason of the glory that excelleth.
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Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory;
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is in glory.
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for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!
12 Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence.
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Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,
13 And not as Moses put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel might not steadfastly look on the face of that which is made void.
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not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.
14 But their senses were made dull. For, until this present day, the selfsame veil, in the reading of the old testament, remaineth not taken away (because in Christ it is made void).
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But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside.
15 But even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
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Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds;
16 But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
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but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
17 Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
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Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.
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And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
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New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.