2 Corinthians 3

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves to you afresh -- as though we needed, like some others, tohave letters of commendation either to you or from you?	1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written in our hearts, that everyone can read and understand;	2 You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all,
3 and it is plain that you are a letter from Christ, entrusted to our care, written not with ink but with theSpirit of the living God; not on stone tablets but on the tablets of human hearts.	3 shown to be a letter of Christ administered by us, written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.
4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ in facing God;	4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
5 it is not that we are so competent that we can claim any credit for ourselves; al our competence comesfrom God.	5 Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God,
6 He has given us the competence to be ministers of a new covenant, a covenant which is not of writtenletters, but of the Spirit; for the written letters kill, but the Spirit gives life.	6 who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the administering of death, engraved in letters on stone, occurred in such glory that the Israelitescould not look Moses steadily in the face, because of its glory, transitory though this glory was,	7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious that the Israelites could not look intently at the face of Moses because of its glory that was going to fade,
8 how much more will the ministry of the Spirit occur in glory!	8 how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious?
9 For if it is glorious to administer condemnation, to administer saving justice is far richer in glory.	9 For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, the ministry of righteousness will abound much more in glory.
10 Indeed, what was once considered glorious has lost al claim to glory, by contrast with the glory whichtranscends it.	10 Indeed, what was endowed with glory has come to have no glory in this respect because of the glory that surpasses it.
11 For if what was transitory had any glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts for ever.	11 For if what was going to fade was glorious, how much more will what endures be glorious.
12 With a hope like this, we can speak with complete fearlessness;	12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we act very boldly
13 not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites should not watch the end of what wastransitory.	13 and not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not look intently at the cessation of what was fading.
14 But their minds were closed; indeed, until this very day, the same veil remains over the reading of theOld Testament: it is not lifted, for only in Christ is it done away with.	14 Rather, their thoughts were rendered dull, for to this present day the same veil remains unlifted when they read the old covenant, because through Christ it is taken away.
15 As it is, to this day, whenever Moses is read, their hearts are covered with a veil,	15 To this day, in fact, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts,
16 and this veil wil not be taken away til they turn to the Lord.	16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed.
17 Now this Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.	17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And al of us, with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformedinto the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.	18 All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.