You people show [i.e., by your conversions] that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us [i.e., the result of our ministry], not written with ink but with the Holy Spirit of the living God; not on stone tablets [i.e., as in the case with Moses' ministry], but on tablets of the human heart. [See Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10].

He has also made us competent as ministers of a New Agreement [i.e., between Himself and mankind]. It is not [an agreement] based [merely] on a written document [i.e., such as the law of Moses], but on the Holy Spirit, for the written document brings [spiritual] death [See Rom. 8:2], but the Holy Spirit brings [never ending] life.

But if the ministry [of the law] that brings [spiritual] death, being carved in letters on stones, came with [such] splendor that the Israelites could not look at Moses' face because of its radiance [See Ex. 34:29-35], (even though such radiance [eventually] faded away),

For if that which was fading away [i.e., the Old Agreement, represented by the law of Moses] had splendor, how much greater is the splendor of that which remains [i.e., the New Agreement represented by the Gospel]? [Note: In this section Paul uses the analogy of the fading splendor on Moses' face to the fading splendor of the Old Agreement].

and are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at it as [its] radiance was completely fading away. [Note: The analogy continues by suggesting that the Old Agreement was fading away like the splendor on Moses' face did].

But to this day, a veil remains on their minds whenever [the writings of] Moses are read.