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

¹Je, tunaanza tena kujipendekeza? Je, tunahitaji barua ya utambulisho kwenu, au kutoka kwenu, kama watu wengine?

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

²Ninyi wenyewe ni barua yetu; barua iliyoandikwa mioyoni mwetu kila mtu aione na kuisoma.

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.

³Ni dhahiri kwamba ninyi ni barua ya Kristo aliyoipeleka kwa mikono yetu. Barua yenyewe imeandikwa si kwa wino, bali kwa Roho wa Mungu hai; imeandikwa si juu ya kipande cha jiwe, bali juu ya mioyo ya watu.

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

⁴Tunaweza kusema hayo kwa sababu ya tumaini letu tulilo nalo kwa Mungu kwa njia ya Kristo.

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

⁵Si kwamba sisi tunaweza kufanya chochote kwa nguvu zetu wenyewe, ila uwezo wetu wote hutoka kwa Mungu:

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.

⁶maana yeye ndiye aliyetuwezesha kulihudumia Agano Jipya ambalo si agano la sheria iliyoandikwa, bali Agano la Roho. Maana sheria iliyoandikwa huleta kifo, lakini Roho huleta uzima.

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:

⁷Sheria iliwekwa kwa kuandikwa juu ya vipande vya mawe. Ingawaje mwisho wake umekuwa kifo, utukufu wake ulikuwa mkuu mno hata wana wa Israeli wasiweze kuutazama uso wa Mose kwa sababu ya mng'ao wake. Tena mng'ao huo ulikuwa wa muda tu. Basi, ikiwa huduma ya kile ambacho kimesababisha kifo imefanyika kwa utukufu mwingi kiasi hicho,

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

⁸basi, huduma ya Roho ina utukufu mkuu zaidi.

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

⁹Ikiwa basi, kulikuwa na utukufu katika huduma ile iliyoleta hukumu, ni wazi kwamba huduma ile iletayo kukubaliwa kuwa waadilifu itakuwa na utukufu mkuu zaidi.

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

¹⁰Sasa utukufu mkuu zaidi umechukua nafasi ya ule utukufu uliokuja hapo awali, ambao fahari yake imekwisha toweka.

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

¹¹Maana ikiwa kile kilichokuwa cha muda tu kilikuwa na utukufu wake, bila shaka kile chenye kudumu milele kitakuwa na utukufu mkuu zaidi.

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

¹²Kwa vile hili ndilo tumaini letu, sisi twasema kwa uhodari mkuu.

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:

¹³Sisi hatufanyi kama Mose ambaye alilazimika kuufunika uso wake kwa kitambaa ili watu wa Israeli wasiuone ule mwisho wa mng'ao uliokuwa unafifia.

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.

¹⁴Lakini akili zao zilipumbazwa. Mpaka leo hii lisomwapo Agano la Kale, kifuniko hicho bado kipo. Kifuniko hicho kitaondolewa tu mtu anapoungana na Kristo.

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

¹⁵Naam, mpaka hivi leo kila isomwapo Sheria ya Mose akili zao huwa zimefunikwa.

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

¹⁶Lakini, wakati mtu amgeukiapo Bwana, kifuniko hicho huondolewa.

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

¹⁷Hapa "Bwana" ni Roho; na pale alipo Roho wa Bwana ndipo ulipo uhuru.

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.

¹⁸Basi, sisi sote ambao nyuso zetu hazikufunikwa, twaonyesha kama katika kioo, utukufu wa Bwana; tunabadilishwa tufanane zaidi na huo mfano wake kwa utukufu mwingi zaidi. Hiyo ni kazi yake Roho wa Bwana.