2 Corinthians · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
2 Corinthians 3 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
DRB Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
RV1909 Reina-Valera 1909
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need (as some do) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?
1 ¿COMENZAMOS otra vez á alabarnos á nosotros mismos? ¿ó tenemos necesidad, como algunos, de letras de recomendación para vosotros, ó de recomendación de vosotros?
1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you?
2 You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men:
2 Nuestras letras sois vosotros, escritas en nuestros corazones, sabidas y leídas de todos los hombres;
2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men,
3 Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.
3 Siendo manifiesto que sois letra de Cristo administrada de nosotros, escrita no con tinta, mas con el Espíritu del Dios vivo; no en tablas de piedra, sino en tablas de carne del corazón.
3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
4 And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.
4 Y tal confianza tenemos por Cristo para con Dios:
4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God,
5 Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.
5 No que seamos suficientes de nosotros mismos para pensar algo como de nosotros mismos, sino que nuestra suficiencia es de Dios;
5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,
6 Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth.
6 El cual asimismo nos hizo ministros suficientes de un nuevo pacto: no de la letra, mas del espíritu; porque la letra mata, mas el espíritu vivifica.
6 who also made us sufficient as servants 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 ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious; so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which is made void:
7 Y si el ministerio de muerte en la letra grabado en piedras, fué con gloria, tanto que los hijos de Israel no pudiesen poner los ojos en la faz de Moisés á causa de la gloria de su rostro, la cual había de perecer,
7 But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which was passing away,
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?
8 ¿Cómo no será más bien con gloria el ministerio del espíritu?
8 won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.
9 Porque si el ministerio de condenación fué [con] gloria, mucho más abundará en gloria el ministerio de justicia.
9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
10 For even that which was glorious in this part was not glorified, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
10 Porque aun lo que fué glorioso, no es glorioso en esta parte, en comparación de la excelente gloria.
10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is in glory.
11 Porque si lo que perece [tuvo] gloria, mucho más [será] en gloria lo que permanece.
11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
12 Having therefore such hope, we use much confidence:
12 Así que, teniendo tal esperanza, hablamos con mucha confianza;
12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,
13 And not as Moses put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel might not steadfastly look on the face of that which is made void.
13 Y no como Moisés, [que] ponía un velo sobre su faz, para que los hijos de Israel no pusiesen los ojos en el fin de lo que había de ser abolido.
13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the children of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.
14 But their senses were made dull. For, until this present day, the selfsame veil, in the reading of the old testament, remaineth not taken away (because in Christ it is made void).
14 Empero los sentidos de ellos se embotaron; porque hasta el día de hoy [les] queda el mismo velo no descubierto en la lección del antiguo testamento, el cual por Cristo es quitado.
14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.
15 But even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
15 Y aun hasta el día de hoy, cuando Moisés es leído, el velo está puesto sobre el corazón de ellos.
15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
16 But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
16 Mas cuando se convirtieren al Señor, el velo se quitará.
16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
17 Porque el Señor es el Espíritu; y donde hay el Espíritu del Señor, [allí] hay libertad.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.
18 Por tanto, nosotros todos, mirando á cara descubierta como en un espejo la gloria del Señor, somos transformados de gloria en gloria en la misma semejanza, como por el Espíritu del Señor.
18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 12:11; 2 Corinthians 5:12; Acts 18:27; 1 Corinthians 16:3
- 2 1 Corinthians 9:1–2; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Romans 1:8; Philippians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 7:3
- 3 Ezekiel 11:19; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16; Psalm 40:8
- 4 Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:8; Exodus 18:19; 2 Corinthians 2:14
- 5 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; Philippians 2:13; John 15:5
- 6 John 6:63; Romans 7:6; Romans 8:2; Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:6–10
- 7 2 Corinthians 3:9–11; Romans 10:4; Exodus 31:18; 1 Corinthians 13:10; 2 Corinthians 3:3
- 8 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:18; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Joel 2:28–29
- 9 Hebrews 12:18–21; Romans 3:21–22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 2 Corinthians 3:6–7; 1 Corinthians 15:41
- 10 2 Peter 1:17; Haggai 2:7–9; Revelation 22:5; Job 25:5; Acts 26:13
- 11 Romans 5:20–21; Hebrews 8:13; Hebrews 7:21–25; 2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 3:6–7
- 12 2 Corinthians 7:4; Ephesians 6:19–20; Philippians 1:20; Acts 4:13; John 16:29
- 13 Exodus 34:33–35; Ephesians 2:14–15; Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 10:1–9; 2 Corinthians 3:7
- 14 2 Corinthians 4:3–4; Acts 26:18; Romans 11:25; Ephesians 1:17–20; Romans 11:7–10
- 15 Acts 13:27–29
- 16 Exodus 34:34; Isaiah 25:7; Isaiah 29:18; John 6:45–46; Romans 11:23
- 17 Romans 8:2; John 8:32; Galatians 5:13; Galatians 4:6; Galatians 5:1
- 18 2 Corinthians 4:6; Ephesians 4:22–24; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 13:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
He anticipates and puts himself an objection which others would have urged against him, Thou vauntest thyself;' and this though he had before employed so strong a corrective in the expressions, "Who is sufficient for these things?" and, "of sincerity...speak we." (2 Cor. ii. 16, 17.) Howbeit he is not satisfied with these. For such is his character.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 12 (1889)
… hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, "That ye are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart." If, therefore, in the present time, fleshly hearts are made partakers of the Spirit, what …
… before, when I censured Thy holy ones for so thinking, whereas in truth they thought not so; and with delight I heard Ambrose, in his sermons to the people, oftentimes most diligently recommend this text as a rule,--"The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life;" whilst, drawing aside the mystic veil, he spiritually laid open that which, accepted according to …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… their mind, and in their heart I will write them," and, "they shall be all taught of God." And Paul too, pointing out the same superiority, said, that they had received a law "not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." But since in process of time they made shipwreck, some with regard to doctrines, others …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
For until this day...when Moses is read, a vail lieth upon their heart.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)