2 Corinthians 9

Now, about the help being sent to God's people, there is really no need for me to write to you at all.

1For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

Note"Saints" in the King James is not a special class of unusually holy people. It translates a word meaning simply those set apart as God's own, that is, ordinary members of the churches. The "ministering" is a specific relief fund: for several years Paul had been collecting money from the largely Gentile churches of Greece and Asia Minor for the impoverished believers in Jerusalem. Chapters 8 and 9 are about getting that collection finished.

2I know how eager you are to help. I have been bragging about you to the believers in Macedonia, telling them that you in Achaia have been ready since last year. Your eagerness has stirred up most of them.

2For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

Note"Forwardness" in 1611 meant eagerness or readiness, with none of the pushiness the word now suggests. "Provoked" likewise could be positive in 1611: stirred up, spurred on. Achaia and Macedonia are two Roman provinces of Greece. Achaia was the south, with Corinth as its capital, so "Achaia was ready" means the Corinthians and their neighbors. Macedonia was the north, home of the churches at Philippi and Thessalonica.

3Even so, I am sending these fellow believers to you, so that what I said about you in this matter will not turn out to be empty talk, and so you will be ready, just as I said you were.

3Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

Note"The brethren" are the men named in the previous chapter, Titus and two other delegates, sent ahead to Corinth to handle the money. "In this behalf" simply means in this matter.

4Otherwise, if some men from Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we would be embarrassed for being so sure of you, to say nothing of you.

4Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

Note"Lest haply" means in case, or on the chance that. The parenthesis "that we say not, ye" is a polite sidestep: Paul says he and his colleagues would be humiliated, while making clear he could have said the Corinthians would be.

5So I thought I should urge these fellow believers to go on ahead to you and get the generous gift ready, the one you already promised. Then it will be waiting as a real gift, freely given and not squeezed out of you.

5Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

Note"Bounty" means a generous gift. "Covetousness" is misleading to a modern ear: the Greek word is pleonexia, grasping for more than one's share, and here it describes the collector's manner rather than the donor's. The point is that the money should look like a freely offered gift and not like a payment extorted by a grasping fundraiser.

6Here is the point: the person who plants only a few seeds will gather only a small harvest, and the person who plants a lot will gather a large harvest.

6But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

NoteThe image is farming, and for Paul's readers it was literal household economics: seed grain held back at planting was grain not eaten at harvest. "Bountifully" renders a Greek phrase that literally reads "with blessings," a Hebrew-flavored idiom for open-handed abundance.

7Each person should give whatever he has decided in his own mind to give. He should not give with regret, or because he feels forced. God loves a person who gives gladly.

7Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Note"Grudgingly, or of necessity" means out of reluctance or regret, or under pressure from someone else. "Cheerful" translates the Greek hilaros, the ancestor of the English word hilarious, but meaning glad rather than funny. The whole clause echoes a line in the Greek version of Proverbs 22:8 about the man who gives gladly.

8And God is able to pour out every kind of blessing on you. so that, always having everything you need in every situation, you may overflow in every good work.

8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

Note"Grace" here translates charis, a word Paul works hard in chapters 8 and 9. In these two chapters the same word covers God's undeserved generosity, the collected money itself, the privilege of giving, and the thanks that result. "Sufficiency" renders autarkeia, a term borrowed from Greek philosophy meaning having enough and needing nothing further, self-sufficiency.

9This is what the Scriptures say: "He has scattered his gifts widely; he has given to the poor. His goodness lasts forever."

9(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

NoteThe quotation is Psalm 112:9, in the Greek version Paul normally used. In the psalm the one who scatters gifts is the person who reveres God, not God himself, and Paul's sentence leaves it open which is meant here. "Righteousness" in this Jewish usage often carried the concrete sense of charitable giving, so "his righteousness remaineth for ever" means his generous conduct has lasting worth.

10God supplies seed to the farmer who plants it, and bread for people to eat. He will also supply and multiply the seed you have to plant, and he will make the harvest of your goodness grow.

10Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

NoteThe wording draws on Isaiah 55:10, where God sends rain so that the ground gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, and on Hosea 10:12, about reaping a harvest of righteousness. "Ministereth" and "minister" here simply mean supplies and will supply.

11You will be made rich in every way, so you can be generous at every opportunity. And your generosity, delivered through us, will cause people to thank God.

11Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

Note"Bountifulness" translates haplotes, literally singleness or simplicity, meaning an undivided heart with no hidden motive, and so open-handedness. "Through us" refers to Paul and his companions physically carrying the money to Jerusalem.

12This service you are carrying out does more than meet the needs of God's people. It also overflows in many thanks given to God.

12For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

NoteTwo words stand behind "the administration of this service." One is diakonia, practical service or relief work. The other is leitourgia, a public service word: in Greek cities it named the costly civic projects wealthy citizens funded out of their own pockets, and in the Greek Old Testament it named the work of priests in the temple. "Supplieth the want" means fills up what is lacking.

13This act of service proves what you are. Because of it, they will praise God for the way you obey the good news about Christ, which you say you believe, and for the generous way you share with them and with everyone else.

13Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

Note"Experiment" in 1611 English meant proof or test, the evidence that comes from trying something out; it had nothing to do with laboratories. "Liberal distribution" means generous sharing, with no political sense to "liberal." "Professed subjection" combines two ideas: the gospel the Corinthians publicly confess, and their submitting to it in practice.

14And they will pray for you, longing to see you, because of the amazing kindness God has shown you.

14And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

15Thank God for his gift, which is too great for words.

15Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Note"Unspeakable" in 1611 meant beyond the power of words to describe, not shocking or shameful as the word now suggests. The Greek adjective is not found in any surviving text before Paul, and may be one he coined.