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Preparing the Gift

For it is not necessary[a] for me to write you about this service[b] to the saints, because I know your eagerness to help.[c] I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours,[d] that Achaia has been ready to give[e] since last year, and your zeal to participate[f] has stirred up most of them.[g] But I am sending[h] these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready[i] just as I kept telling them. For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated[j] (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you.[k] Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution[l] you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift[m] and not as something you feel forced to do.[n] My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously[o] will also reap generously. Each one of you should give[p] just as he has decided in his heart,[q] not reluctantly[r] or under compulsion,[s] because God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace overflow[t] to you so that because you have enough[u] of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow[v] in every good work. Just as it is written, “He[w] has scattered widely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever.”[x] 10 Now God[y] 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. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you may be generous on every occasion,[z] which is producing through us thanksgiving to God, 12 because the service of this ministry is not only providing for[aa] the needs of the saints but is also overflowing with many thanks to God. 13 Through the evidence[ab] of this service[ac] they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing[ad] with them and with everyone. 14 And in their prayers on your behalf, they long for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown to you.[ae] 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift![af]

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 9:1 tn Or “it is superfluous.”
  2. 2 Corinthians 9:1 tn Or “this ministry,” “this contribution.”
  3. 2 Corinthians 9:2 tn The words “to help” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
  4. 2 Corinthians 9:2 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.”
  5. 2 Corinthians 9:2 tn The words “to give” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
  6. 2 Corinthians 9:2 tn The words “to participate” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
  7. 2 Corinthians 9:2 sn Most of them is a reference to the Macedonians (cf. v. 4).
  8. 2 Corinthians 9:3 tn This verb has been translated as an epistolary aorist.
  9. 2 Corinthians 9:3 tn That is, ready with the collection for the saints.
  10. 2 Corinthians 9:4 tn Or “be disgraced”; Grk “be put to shame.”
  11. 2 Corinthians 9:4 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.
  12. 2 Corinthians 9:5 tn Grk “the blessing.”
  13. 2 Corinthians 9:5 tn Grk “a blessing.”
  14. 2 Corinthians 9:5 tn Grk “as a covetousness”; that is, a gift given grudgingly or under compulsion.
  15. 2 Corinthians 9:6 tn Or “bountifully”; so also in the next occurrence in the verse.
  16. 2 Corinthians 9:7 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.
  17. 2 Corinthians 9:7 tn Or “in his mind.”
  18. 2 Corinthians 9:7 tn Or “not from regret”; Grk “not out of grief.”
  19. 2 Corinthians 9:7 tn Or “not out of a sense of duty”; Grk “from necessity.”
  20. 2 Corinthians 9:8 tn Or “abound.”
  21. 2 Corinthians 9:8 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”).
  22. 2 Corinthians 9:8 tn Or “abound.”
  23. 2 Corinthians 9:9 sn He in the quotation refers to the righteous person.
  24. 2 Corinthians 9:9 sn A quotation from Ps 112:9.
  25. 2 Corinthians 9:10 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  26. 2 Corinthians 9:11 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).
  27. 2 Corinthians 9:12 tn Or “not only supplying.”
  28. 2 Corinthians 9:13 tn Or “proof,” or perhaps “testing” (NRSV).
  29. 2 Corinthians 9:13 tn Or “ministry.”
  30. 2 Corinthians 9:13 tn Or “your partnership”; Grk “your fellowship.”
  31. 2 Corinthians 9:14 tn Grk “the extraordinary grace of God to you”; the point is that God has given or shown grace to the Corinthians.
  32. 2 Corinthians 9:15 tn “Let us thank God for his gift which cannot be described with words” (L&N 33.202).

Chapter 9

Let the Offering Be Ready. In regard to the ministry toward the saints, there really is no necessity for me to write to you. For I am fully aware of your eagerness to help, which has been the subject of my boasting about you to the Macedonians, telling them that Achaia has been ready since last year. Your ardor has excited most of them.

Nevertheless, I am sending the brethren to ensure that our boasts about you may not seem to have been offered in vain. I want you to be as prepared as I said you would be. For if I bring some Macedonians with me and they come to the realization that you are not prepared, it would be a source of shame to us—to say nothing of you—because of our confidence in you. Therefore, I thought it necessary to encourage the brethren to go on to you ahead of us and arrange in advance for the gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a genuine gift and not as something that has been granted grudgingly.

God Loves a Cheerful Giver. Remember this: if you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly, and if you sow generously, you will reap generously as well. Each person should give as much as he has decided in his heart, not with reluctance or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to enrich you with an abundance of every grace, so that, with all of your needs provided for, you may be able to produce a surplus of good works. As it is written,

“He scatters abroad his gifts to the poor;
    his righteousness lasts forever.”

10 Generosity Will Prompt Thanksgiving. The one who provides seed for sowing and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 Enriched in every way, you will be able to practice all your acts of generosity, which, through our intervention, will result in thanksgiving to God.

12 The administering of this public service not only helps to satisfy the needs of the saints but also overflows in countless acts of thanksgiving to God. 13 Through the evidence of such service, you are giving glory to God for your obedient profession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution to them and to all others as well. 14 At the same time, their hearts will go out to you in their prayers for you, because of the surpassing grace that God has bestowed upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.[a]

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 9:15 Indescribable gift: i.e., his own Son (Jn 3:16). It is God who has first given himself to us in the person of his Son; thus, all genuine Christian giving is our response for such a gift (see 2 Cor 8:9; 1 Jn 4:9-11).

For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.