| International Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1Are we beginning to recommend ourselves again? Unlike some people, we do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? | 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? |
| 2You are our letter, written in our hearts and known and read by everyone. | 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. |
| 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. | 3You show 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. |
| 4Such is the confidence that we have in God through the Messiah. | 4Such confidence we have through Christ before God. |
| 5By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God, | 5Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. |
| 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. | 6He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. |
| 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), | 7Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, |
| 8will not the Spirit's ministry have even more glory? | 8will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? |
| 9For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, then the ministry of justification has an overwhelming glory. | 9If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! |
| 10In fact, that which once had glory lost its glory, because the other glory surpassed it. | 10For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. |
| 11For if that which fades away came through glory, how much more does that which is permanent have glory? | 11And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! |
| 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we speak very boldly, | 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. |
| 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. | 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing 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. | 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. |
| 15Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. | 15Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. |
| 16But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. | 16But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. |
| 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom. | 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. |
| 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. | 18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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