Saturday, February 01, 2025
Great Generosity
8 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. 3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging for the favor [a]of participation in the [b]support of the [c]saints, 5 and this, not as we had [d]expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. 6 So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.
7 But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the [e]love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. 8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 10 I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. 11 But now finish [f]doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. 12 For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— 14 at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; 15 as it is written, “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
16 But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. 17 For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord. 18 We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches; 19 and not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our readiness, 20 [g]taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift; 21 for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 22 We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker [h]among you; as for our brethren, they are [i]messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ. 24 Therefore [j]openly before the churches, [k]show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.
Footnotes
- 2 Corinthians 8:4 Lit and
- 2 Corinthians 8:4 Lit service to the saints
- 2 Corinthians 8:4 Or holy ones
- 2 Corinthians 8:5 Lit hoped
- 2 Corinthians 8:7 Lit love from us in you; one early ms reads your love for us
- 2 Corinthians 8:11 Lit the doing
- 2 Corinthians 8:20 Lit avoiding this
- 2 Corinthians 8:23 Lit for you
- 2 Corinthians 8:23 Lit apostles
- 2 Corinthians 8:24 Lit in the face of the churches
- 2 Corinthians 8:24 Or show the proof...for boasting to them about you
The Glorious Future
32 Behold, a king will reign righteously
And princes will rule justly.
2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind
And a shelter from the storm,
Like [a]streams of water in a dry country,
Like the shade of a [b]huge rock in [c]a parched land.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be [d]blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 The [e]mind of the hasty will discern the [f]truth,
And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.
5 No longer will the fool be called noble,
Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.
6 For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart [g]inclines toward wickedness:
To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord,
To [h]keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And [i]to withhold drink from the thirsty.
7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the afflicted with [j]slander,
Even though the needy one speaks [k]what is right.
8 But the noble man devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
9 Rise up, you women who are at ease,
And hear my voice;
Give ear to my word,
You complacent daughters.
10 Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, O complacent daughters;
For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease;
Be troubled, you complacent daughters;
Strip, undress and put sackcloth on your waist,
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
13 For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up;
Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city.
14 Because the palace has been abandoned, the [l]populated city forsaken.
[m]Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,
A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;
15 Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.
17 And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and [n]confidence forever.
18 Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,
And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;
19 And it will hail when the forest comes down,
And the city will be utterly laid low.
20 How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,
Who [o]let out freely the ox and the donkey.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 32:2 Lit canals
- Isaiah 32:2 Lit heavy
- Isaiah 32:2 Lit an exhausted
- Isaiah 32:3 Or turned away
- Isaiah 32:4 Lit heart
- Isaiah 32:4 Lit knowledge
- Isaiah 32:6 Or does
- Isaiah 32:6 Lit make empty the hungry soul
- Isaiah 32:6 Lit he causes to lack
- Isaiah 32:7 Lit words of falsehood
- Isaiah 32:7 Lit justly
- Isaiah 32:14 Lit multitude of the
- Isaiah 32:14 Or Ophel
- Isaiah 32:17 Or security
- Isaiah 32:20 Lit send out the foot of the ox