| New American Standard Bible 1995 | NET Bible |
| 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? | 1Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don't need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? |
| 2You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; | 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, |
| 3being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for 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. | 3revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts. |
| 4Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. | 4Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. |
| 5Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, | 5Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, |
| 6who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. | 6who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. |
| 7But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, | 7But if the ministry that produced death--carved in letters on stone tablets--came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective), |
| 8how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? | 8how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? |
| 9For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. | 9For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! |
| 10For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. | 10For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. |
| 11For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. | 11For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory! |
| 12Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, | 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, |
| 13and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. | 13and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective. |
| 14But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. | 14But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. |
| 15But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; | 15But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, |
| 16but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. | 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. |
| 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. | 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. |
| 18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. | 18And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. //netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved. |
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