| English Standard Version | International Standard Version |
| 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? | 1Are we beginning to recommend ourselves again? Unlike some people, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? |
| 2You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. | 2You are our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by everyone. |
| 3And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered 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. | 3You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah's letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. |
| 4Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. | 4Such is the confidence that we have in God through the Messiah. |
| 5Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, | 5By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God, |
| 6who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. | 6who has also qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, which is not written but spiritual, because the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life. |
| 7Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, | 7Now if the ministry of death that was inscribed in letters of stone came with such glory that the people of Israel could not gaze on Moses' face (because the glory was fading away from it), |
| 8will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? | 8will not the Spirit's ministry have even more glory? |
| 9For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. | 9For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, then the ministry of justification has an overwhelming glory. |
| 10Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. | 10In fact, that which once had glory lost its glory, because the other glory surpassed it. |
| 11For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. | 11For if that which fades away came through glory, how much more does that which is permanent have glory? |
| 12Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, | 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we speak very boldly, |
| 13not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. | 13not like Moses, who kept covering his face with a veil to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of what was fading away. |
| 14But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. | 14However, their minds were hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah is that veil removed. |
| 15Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. | 15Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. |
| 16But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. | 16But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. |
| 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 Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom. |
| 18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. | 18As all of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, we are becoming more like him with ever-increasing glory by the Lord's Spirit. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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