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God Loves a Cheerful Giver

For (A)it is superfluous for me to write to you about this (B)ministry to the [a]saints; for I know your readiness, of which I (C)boast about you to the (D)Macedonians, that (E)Achaia has been prepared since (F)last year, and your zeal stirred up most of them. But I have sent the brothers, in order that our (G)boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, (H)as I was saying, you may be prepared; lest if any (I)Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to speak of you—be put to shame in this certainty of ours. So I regarded it necessary to encourage the (J)brothers that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised (K)blessing, so that the same would be ready as a (L)blessing and not as a [b](M)begrudging obligation.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 9:1 Or holy ones
  2. 2 Corinthians 9:5 Lit covetousness

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem.[a] For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece[b] were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.

But I am sending these brothers to be sure you really are ready, as I have been telling them, and that your money is all collected. I don’t want to be wrong in my boasting about you. We would be embarrassed—not to mention your own embarrassment—if some Macedonian believers came with me and found that you weren’t ready after all I had told them! So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:1 Greek about the offering for God’s holy people.
  2. 9:2 Greek in Achaia, the southern region of the Greek peninsula. Macedonia was in the northern region of Greece.