⁷ But as ^(A)you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you^[a]—^(B)see that you excel in this act of grace also.

^8 (C)I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^(D)though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ And in this matter ^(E)I give my judgment: ^(F)this benefits you, who ^(G)a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ¹² For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable ^(H)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness ¹⁴ your abundance at the present time should supply ^(I)their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. ¹⁵ As it is written, ^(J)“Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

My Soul Waits for the Lord

A Song of ^(A)Ascents.