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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.

Completing the Collection for the Saints

Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters,[a] the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia, that during a severe ordeal of suffering, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in the wealth[b] of their generosity. For I testify, they gave according to their means and beyond their means. They did so voluntarily,[c] begging us with great earnestness for the blessing and fellowship of helping[d] the saints. And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 8:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:8.
  2. 2 Corinthians 8:2 tn Or “riches.”
  3. 2 Corinthians 8:3 tn Or “spontaneously.”
  4. 2 Corinthians 8:4 tn Or “of ministering to.”