2 Corinthians 3, side by side

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

¹Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

²You yourselves are our letter, inscribed on our hearts, known and read by everyone.

²Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

³It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

³Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

⁴Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.

⁴And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God.

⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

⁶And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁶Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

⁷Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,

⁷But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

⁸How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

⁹For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!

⁹For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

¹⁰Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it.

¹⁰For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

¹¹For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!

¹¹For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

¹²Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:

¹³We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away.

¹³And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:

¹⁴But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.

¹⁴But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.

¹⁵And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

¹⁵But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

¹⁶Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.

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

¹⁷Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.