9:1 For it is not necessary 1 for me to write you about this service 2 to the saints, 9:2 because I know your eagerness to help. 3 I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, 4 that Achaia has been ready to give 5 since last year, and your zeal to participate 6 has stirred up most of them. 7 9:3 But I am sending 8 these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready 9 just as I kept telling them. 9:4 For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated 10 (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you. 11 9:5 Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution 12 you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift 13 and not as something you feel forced to do. 14 9:6 My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously 15 will also reap generously. 9:7 Each one of you should give 16 just as he has decided in his heart, 17 not reluctantly 18 or under compulsion, 19 because God loves a cheerful giver.
1 tn Or “it is superfluous.”
2 tn Or “this ministry,” “this contribution.”
3 tn The words “to help” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
4 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 tn The words “to give” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
6 tn The words “to participate” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
7 sn Most of them is a reference to the Macedonians (cf. v. 4).
8 tn This verb has been translated as an epistolary aorist.
9 tn That is, ready with the collection for the saints.
10 tn Or “be disgraced”; Grk “be put to shame.”
11 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 tn Grk “the blessing.”
13 tn Grk “a blessing.”
14 tn Grk “as a covetousness”; that is, a gift given grudgingly or under compulsion.
15 tn Or “bountifully”; so also in the next occurrence in the verse.
16 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 tn Or “in his mind.”
18 tn Or “not from regret”; Grk “not out of grief.”
19 tn Or “not out of a sense of duty”; Grk “from necessity.”