9 ¹ About the provision of aid for God's people, it is superfluous for me to write to you. 9 ² I know how eager you are to help; I speak of it with pride to the Macedonians: I tell them that Achaia had everything ready last year; and most of them have been fired by your zeal. 9 ³ My purpose in sending these friends is to ensure that what we have said about you in this matter should not prove to be an empty boast. By that I mean, I want you to be prepared, as I told them you were; 9 ⁴ for if I bring with me men from Macedonia and they find you are not prepared, what a disgrace it will be to us, let alone to you, after all the confidence we have shown! 9 ⁵ I have accordingly thought it necessary to ask these friends to go on ahead to Corinth, to see that your promised bounty is in order before I come; it will then be awaiting me as a bounty indeed, and not as an extortion.

9 ⁶ Remember: sparse sowing, sparse reaping; sow bountifully, and you will reap bountifully. 9 ^{7 [ Pr.22.8. ]} Each person should give as he has decided for himself; there should be no reluctance, no sense of compulsion; God loves a cheerful giver. 9 ⁸ And it is in God's power to provide you richly with every good gift; thus you will have ample means in yourselves to meet each and every situation, with enough and to spare for every good cause. 9 ^{9 [ Ps.112.9. ]} Scripture says of such a man: 'He has lavished his gifts on the needy, his benevolence stands fast for ever.' 9 ¹⁰ Now he who provides seed for sowing and bread for food will provide the seed for you to sow; he will multiply it and swell the harvest of your benevolence, 9 ¹¹ and you will always be rich enough to be generous. Through our action such generosity will issue in thanksgiving to God, 9 ¹² for as a piece of willing service this is not only a contribution towards the needs of God's people; more than that, it overflows in a flood of thanksgiving to God. 9 ¹³ For through the proof which this affords, many will give honour to God when they see how humbly you obey him and how faithfully you confess the gospel of Christ; and will thank him for your liberal contribution to their need and to the general good. 9 ¹⁴ And as they join in prayer on your behalf, their hearts will go out to you because of the richness of the grace which God has imparted to you. 9 ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his gift beyond words!