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A Call to Generous Giving

Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,[a] what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.[b] They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

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Footnotes

  1. 8:1 Greek brothers.
  2. 8:4 Greek for God’s holy people.

Great Generosity

Now, brothers and sisters, we make known to you the grace of God which has been (A)given in the churches of (B)Macedonia, that in a [a]great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the (C)wealth of their liberality. For I testify that (D)according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave voluntarily, begging us with much urging for the (E)favor [b]of participation in the [c](F)support of the [d]saints, and this, not as we had [e]expected, but they first (G)gave themselves to the Lord and to us by (H)the will of God.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 8:2 Or severe test of
  2. 2 Corinthians 8:4 Lit and
  3. 2 Corinthians 8:4 Lit service to the saints
  4. 2 Corinthians 8:4 Lit holy ones; i.e., God’s people
  5. 2 Corinthians 8:5 Lit hoped