1Now concerning ⚓the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; 2for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a ⚓year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority. 3⚓Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; 4lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting. 5Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which youhad previously promised, that it may be ready as amatterof generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
The Cheerful Giver
6⚓But this Isay: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Solet each one give as he purposes in his heart, ⚓not grudgingly or of necessity; for ⚓God loves a cheerful giver. 8⚓And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9As it is written: ⚓“He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” 10Now may He who ⚓supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your ⚓righteousness, 11while youare enriched in everything for all liberality, ⚓which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12For the administration of this service not only ⚓supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13while, through the proof of this ministry, they ⚓glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal ⚓sharing with them and all men,14and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding ⚓grace of God in you. 15Thanks be to God ⚓for His indescribable gift!