2tn Or “this ministry,” “this contribution.”

3tn The words “to help” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

4tn 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.”

5tn The words “to give” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

6tn The words “to participate” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

7sn Most of them is a reference to the Macedonians (cf. v. 4).

8tn This verb has been translated as an epistolary aorist.

9tn That is, ready with the collection for the saints.

10tn Or “be disgraced”; Grk “be put to shame.”

11tn 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.

12tn Grk “the blessing.”

13tn Grk “a blessing.”

14tn Grk “as a covetousness”; that is, a gift given grudgingly or under compulsion.

15tn Or “bountifully”; so also in the next occurrence in the verse.

16tn 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.

17tn Or “in his mind.”

18tn Or “not from regret”; Grk “not out of grief.”

19tn Or “not out of a sense of duty”; Grk “from necessity.”

20tn Or “abound.”

21tn Or “so that by having enough.” The Greek participle can be translated as a participle of cause (“because you have enough”) or means (“by having enough”).

22tn Or “abound.”

23sn He in the quotation refers to the righteous person.

24sn A quotation from Ps 112:9.

25tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

26tn Grk “in every way for every generosity,” or “he will always make you rich enough to be generous at all times” (L&N 57.29).

27tn Or “not only supplying.”

28tn Or “proof,” or perhaps “testing” (NRSV).

29tn Or “ministry.”

30tn Or “your partnership”; Grk “your fellowship.”

31tn Grk “the extraordinary grace of God to you”; the point is that God has given or shown grace to the Corinthians.

32tn “Let us thank God for his gift which cannot be described with words” (L&N 33.202).