2 Corinthians 3
The full text of 2 Corinthians 3 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3 You show 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.
4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God.
5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,
8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?
9 For if the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
10 Indeed, what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.
11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
13 We 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.
14 But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we all, with unveiled faces, contemplating the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
About this translation
You are reading the Trinity Bible Version (TBV) — an original 2026 translation made straight from the Greek, in clear modern English, exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter of every book is free to read online. For the study edition — with Hebrew and Greek on every verse and the full translation notes — open 2 Corinthians in the Trinity Bible app.
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