| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1For it is not necessary for me to write you about this service to the saints, | 1I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem. |
| 2because I know your eagerness to help. I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, that Achaia has been ready to give since last year, and your zeal to participate has stirred up most of them. | 2For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece 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. |
| 3But I am sending these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready just as I kept telling them. | 3But 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. |
| 4For if any of the Macedonians should come with me and find that you are not ready to give, we would be humiliated (not to mention you) by this confidence we had in you. | 4We 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! |
| 5Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift and not as something you feel forced to do. | 5So 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. |
| 6My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. | 6Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. |
| 7Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver. | 7You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” |
| 8And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work. | 8And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. |
| 9Just as it is written, "He has scattered widely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever." | 9As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” |
| 10Now God who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your supply of seed and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow. | 10For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. |
| 11You will be enriched in every way so that you may be generous on every occasion, which is producing through us thanksgiving to God, | 11Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. |
| 12because the service of this ministry is not only providing for the needs of the saints but is also overflowing with many thanks to God. | 12So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. |
| 13Through the evidence of this service they will glorify God because of your obedience to your confession in the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your sharing with them and with everyone. | 13As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. |
| 14And in their prayers on your behalf they long for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown to you. | 14And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. |
| 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! | 15Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words! |
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