Ministers of a New Covenant

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

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

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.

⁴Such confidence before God is ours through Christ.

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

The Glory of the New Covenant

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,

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Love

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

³If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body,but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.

⁶Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.

¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.

¹²Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

Praise to the Creator

¹Rejoice in the LORD, O righteous ones;it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.

²Praise the LORD with the harp;make music to Him with ten strings.

³Sing to Him a new song;play skillfully with a shout of joy.

⁴For the word of the LORD is upright,and all His work is trustworthy.

⁵The LORD loves righteousness and justice;the earth is full of His loving devotion.

⁶By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.

⁷He piles up the waters of the sea;He puts the depths into storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD;let all the people of the world revere Him.

⁹For He spoke, and it came to be;He commanded, and it stood firm.

¹⁰The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations;He thwarts the devices of the peoples.

¹¹The counsel of the LORD stands forever,the purposes of His heart to all generations.

¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,the people He has chosen as His inheritance!

¹³The LORD looks down from heaven;He sees all the sons of men.

¹⁴From His dwelling place He gazeson all who inhabit the earth.

¹⁵He shapes the hearts of each;He considers all their works.

¹⁶No king is saved by his vast army;no warrior is delivered by his great strength.

¹⁷A horse is a vain hope for salvation;even its great strength cannot save.

¹⁸Surely the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him,on those whose hope is in His loving devotion

¹⁹to deliver them from deathand keep them alive in famine.

²⁰Our soul waits for the LORD;He is our help and our shield.

²¹For our hearts rejoice in Him,since we trust in His holy name.

²²May Your loving devotion rest on us, O LORD,as we put our hope in You.

It Is Good to Sing Praises

¹Hallelujah!How good it is to sing praises to our God,how pleasant and lovely to praise Him!

²The LORD builds up Jerusalem;He gathers the exiles of Israel.

³He heals the brokenheartedand binds up their wounds.

⁴He determines the number of the stars;He calls them each by name.

⁵Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;His understanding has no limit.

⁶The LORD sustains the humble,but casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;make music on the harp to our God,

⁸who covers the sky with clouds,who prepares rain for the earth,who makes grass to grow on the hills.

⁹He provides food for the animals,and for the young ravens when they call.

¹⁰He does not delight in the strength of the horse;He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.

¹¹The LORD is pleased with those who fear Him,who hope in His loving devotion.

¹²Exalt the LORD, O Jerusalem;praise your God, O Zion!

¹³For He strengthens the bars of your gatesand blesses the children within you.

¹⁴He makes peace at your borders;He fills you with the finest wheat.

¹⁵He sends forth His command to the earth;His word runs swiftly.

¹⁶He spreads the snow like wool;He scatters the frost like ashes;

¹⁷He casts forth His hail like pebbles.Who can withstand His icy blast?

¹⁸He sends forth His word and melts them;He unleashes His winds, and the waters flow.

¹⁹He declares His word to Jacob,His statutes and judgments to Israel.

²⁰He has done this for no other nation;they do not know His judgments.Hallelujah!