^3:7But if the ministry that produced death—carved in letters on stone tablets¹⁰—came with glory, so that the Israelites¹¹ could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face¹² (a glory¹³ which was made ineffective),¹⁴

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Footnotes

10 Grk “on stones”; but since this is clearly an allusion to the tablets of the Decalogue (see 2 Cor 3:3) the word “tablets” was supplied in the translation to make the connection clear.
11 Grk “so that the sons of Israel.”
12 The glory of his face. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets of the Decalogue, the people were afraid to approach him because his face was so radiant (Exod 34:29–30).
13 The words “a glory” are not in the Greek text, but the reference to “glory” has been repeated from the previous clause for clarity.
14 Or “which was transitory.” Traditionally this phrase is translated as “which was fading away.” The verb καταργέω in the corpus Paulinum uniformly has the meaning “to render inoperative, ineffective”; the same nuance is appropriate here. The glory of Moses’ face was rendered ineffective by the veil Moses wore. For discussion of the meaning of this verb in this context, see S. J. Hafemann, Paul, Moses, and the History of Israel ( 81), 301–13. A similar translation has been adopted in the two other occurrences of the verb in this paragraph in vv. 11 and 13.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was,

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside,

NLTNew Living Translation

The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

But if the ministry of death in letters carved on stone came with glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look intently into the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, which was transitory,

KJV 1900King James Version

But 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:

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