1. Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you;
2. for 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;
4. lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting.
5. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
6. But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.