²⁴ They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled^(A) on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,^(A) not on tablets of stone^(B) but on tablets of human hearts.^(C)

²⁸ A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly,^(A) nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.^(B)

²⁹ No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart,^(A) by the Spirit,^(B) not by the written code.^(C) Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.^(D)

²⁰ But you have an anointing^(A) from the Holy One,^(B) and all of you know the truth.^[a](C)

²¹ I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it^(A) and because no lie comes from the truth.

¹⁶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple^(A) and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?^(B)

¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.