Preparing the Gift

¹For it is not necessary for me to write you about this service to the saints,[#tn Or “it is superfluous.”; #tn Or “this ministry,” “this contribution.”]

²because I know your eagerness to help. I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, that Achaia has been ready to give since last year, and your zeal to participate has stirred up most of them.[#tn The words “to help” are not in the Greek text but are implied.; #tn Grk “concerning which I keep boasting to the Macedonians about you.” A new sentence was started here and the translation was simplified by removing the relative clause and repeating the antecedent “this eagerness of yours.”; #tn The words “to give” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.; #tn The words “to participate” are not in the Greek text but are implied.; #sn Most of them is a reference to the Macedonians (cf. v. 4).]

³But I am sending these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready just as I kept telling them.[#tn This verb has been translated as an epistolary aorist.; #tn That is, ready with the collection for the saints.]

⁴For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you.[#tn Or “be disgraced”; Grk “be put to shame.”; #tn Grk “by this confidence”; the words “we had in you” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied as a necessary clarification for the English reader.]

⁵Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift and not as something you feel forced to do.[#tn Grk “the blessing.”; #tn Grk “a blessing.”; #tn Grk “as a covetousness”; that is, a gift given grudgingly or under compulsion.]

⁶My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.[#tn Or “bountifully”; so also in the next occurrence in the verse.]

⁷Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.[#tn Or “must do.” The words “of you” and “should give” are not in the Greek text, which literally reads, “Each one just as he has decided in his heart.” The missing words are an ellipsis; these or similar phrases must be supplied for the English reader.; #tn Or “in his mind.”; #tn Or “not from regret”; Grk “not out of grief.”; #tn Or “not out of a sense of duty”; Grk “from necessity.”]

⁸And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work.[#tn Or “abound.”; #tn Or “so that by having enough.” The Greek participle can be translated as a participle of cause (“because you have enough”) or means (“by having enough”).; #tn Or “abound.”]

⁹Just as it is written, “He , .”[#sn He in the quotation refers to the righteous person.; #sn A quotation from Ps 112:9.]

¹⁰Now God who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your supply of seed and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow.[#tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.]

¹¹You will be enriched in every way so that you may be generous on every occasion, which is producing through us thanksgiving to God,[#tn Grk “in every way for every generosity,” or “he will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times” (L&N 57.29).]

¹²because the service of this ministry is not only providing for the needs of the saints but is also overflowing with many thanks to God.[#tn Or “not only supplying.”]

¹³Through the evidence of this service they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing with them and with everyone.[#tn Or “proof,” or perhaps “testing” (NRSV).; #tn Or “ministry.”; #tn Or “your partnership”; Grk “your fellowship.”]

¹⁴And in their prayers on your behalf they long for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown to you.[#tn Grk “the extraordinary grace of God to you”; the point is that God has given or shown grace to the Corinthians.]

¹⁵Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift![#tn “Let us thank God for his gift which cannot be described with words” (L&N 33.202).]