| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1Are 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! | 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? |
| 2The 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. | 2You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, |
| 3Clearly, 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. | 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. |
| 4We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. | 4Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. |
| 5It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes 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, |
| 6He 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. The Glory of the New Covenant | 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. |
| 7The 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. | 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), |
| 8Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? | 8how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? |
| 9If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! | 9For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness excel in glory! |
| 10In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. | 10For indeed, what had been glorious now has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. |
| 11So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! | 11For if what was made ineffective came with glory, how much more has what remains come in glory! |
| 12Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. | 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, |
| 13We 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. | 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 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. | 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. |
| 15Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. | 15But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, |
| 16But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. | 16but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. |
| 17For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. | 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. |
| 18So 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. | 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. |
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