3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
3:1 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?

3:2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men;
3:2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all;

3:3 and 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.
3:3 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.

3:4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
3:4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

3:5 Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,
3:5 Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God,

3:6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life.
3:6 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.

3:7 Now if the dispensation of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses' face because of its brightness, fading as this was,
3:7 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,

3:8 will not the dispensation of the Spirit be attended with greater splendor?
3:8 how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory?

3:9 For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.
3:9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory!

3:10 Indeed, in this case, what once had splendor has come to have no splendor at all, because of the splendor that surpasses it.
3:10 Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory;

3:11 For if what faded away came with splendor, what is permanent must have much more splendor.
3:11 for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!

3:12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
3:12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,

3:13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor.
3:13 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.

3:14 But 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.
3:14 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.

3:15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds;
3:15 Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds;

3:16 but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed.
3:16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
3:18 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.