2 Corinthians 3
1 Doe we begin to praise our selues againe? or neede we as some other, epistles of recommendation vnto you, or letters of recommendation from you?
Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? We do not need letters of recommendation to you or from you, like some people, do we?
2 Yee are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is vnderstand, and read of all men,
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, known and read by all people.
3 In that yee are manifest, to be the Epistle of Christ, ministred by vs, and written, not with yncke, but with the Spirite of the liuing God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.
You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us. It was written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God. It was not written on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
4 And such trust haue we through Christ to God:
And this is the confidence that we have through Christ before God.
5 Not that we are sufficient of our selues, to thinke any thing, as of our selues: but our sufficiencie is of God,
We are not competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us. Instead, our competence is from God.
6 Who also hath made vs able ministers of the Newe testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirite: for the letter killeth, but the Spirite giueth life.
It is God who made us able to be servants of a new covenant. This is a covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 If then the ministration of death written with letters and ingrauen in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel coulde not beholde the face of Moses, for the glorie of his countenance (which glorie is done away.)
Now the service that produced death—engraved in letters on stones—came in such glory that the people of Israel could not look directly at Moses' face. This is because of the glory of his face, a glory that was fading.
8 Howe shall not the ministration of the Spirite be more glorious?
How much more glorious will be the service that the Spirit does?
9 For if the ministerie of condemnation was glorious, much more doeth the ministration of righteousnesse exceede in glorie.
For if the service of condemnation had glory, how much more does the service of righteousness abound in glory!
10 For euen that which was glorified, was not glorified in this point, that is, as touching the exceeding glorie.
For indeed, that which was once made glorious is no longer glorious in this respect, because of the glory that exceeds it.
11 For if that which should be abolished, was glorious, much more shall that which remaineth, be glorious.
For if that which was passing away had glory, how much more will what is permanent have glory!
12 Seeing then that we haue such trust, we vse great boldnesse of speach.
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 And we are not as Moses, which put a vaile vpon his face, that the children of Israel should not looke vnto the ende of that which should be abolished.
We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the people of Israel were not able to look directly at the ending of a glory that was passing away.
14 Therefore their mindes are hardened: for vntill this day remaineth the same couering vntaken away in the reading of the olde Testament, which vaile in Christ is put away.
But their minds were closed. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 But euen vnto this day, whe Moses is read, the vaile is laid ouer their hearts.
But even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 Neuertheles when their heart shall be turned to the Lord, the vaile shalbe taken away.
But when a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Nowe the Lord is the Spirite, and where the Spirite of the Lord is, there is libertie.
Now the Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 But we al behold as in a mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face, and are changed into the same image, from glorie to glorie, as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Now all of us, with unveiled faces, see the glory of the Lord. We are being transformed into the same glorious likeness from one degree of glory into another, just as from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
