HOLY BIBLE: 2 Corinthians 8 (original) (raw)

1 Γνωρίζομεν δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὴν χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν δεδομένην ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Μακεδονίας, 2 ὅτι ἐν πολλῇ δοκιμῇ θλίψεως ἡ περισσεία τῆς χαρᾶς αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ κατὰ βάθους πτωχεία αὐτῶν ἐπερίσσευσεν εἰς τὸ πλοῦτος τῆς ἁπλότητος αὐτῶν: 3 ὅτι κατὰ δύναμιν, μαρτυρῶ, καὶ παρὰ δύναμιν, αὐθαίρετοι 4 μετὰ πολλῆς παρακλήσεως δεόμενοι ἡμῶν τὴν χάριν καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν τῆς διακονίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους 5 καὶ οὐ καθὼς ἠλπίσαμεν ἀλλ' ἑαυτοὺς ἔδωκαν πρῶτον τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ ἡμῖν διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ, 6 εἰς τὸ παρακαλέσαι ἡμᾶς Τίτον ἵνα καθὼς προενήρξατο οὕτως καὶ ἐπιτελέσῃ εἰς ὑμᾶς καὶ τὴν χάριν ταύτην. 7 ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν παντὶ περισσεύετε, πίστει καὶ λόγῳ καὶ γνώσει καὶ πάσῃ σπουδῇ καὶ τῇ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἐν ὑμῖν ἀγάπῃ, ἵνα καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ χάριτι περισσεύητε. 8 οὐ κατ' ἐπιταγὴν λέγω, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ἑτέρων σπουδῆς καὶ τὸ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης γνήσιον δοκιμάζων: 9 γινώσκετε γὰρ τὴν χάριν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι δι' ὑμᾶς ἐπτώχευσεν πλούσιος ὤν, ἵνα ὑμεῖς τῇ ἐκείνου πτωχείᾳ πλουτήσητε. 10 καὶ γνώμην ἐν τούτῳ δίδωμι: τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν συμφέρει, οἵτινες οὐ μόνον τὸ ποιῆσαι ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ θέλειν προενήρξασθε ἀπὸ πέρυσι: 11 νυνὶ δὲ καὶ τὸ ποιῆσαι ἐπιτελέσατε, ὅπως καθάπερ ἡ προθυμία τοῦ θέλειν οὕτως καὶ τὸ ἐπιτελέσαι ἐκ τοῦ ἔχειν. 12 εἰ γὰρ ἡ προθυμία πρόκειται, καθὸ ἐὰν ἔχῃ εὐπρόσδεκτος, οὐ καθὸ οὐκ ἔχει. 13 οὐ γὰρ ἵνα ἄλλοις ἄνεσις, ὑμῖν θλῖψις, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἰσότητος: 14 ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ τὸ ὑμῶν περίσσευμα εἰς τὸ ἐκείνων ὑστέρημα, ἵνα καὶ τὸ ἐκείνων περίσσευμα γένηται εἰς τὸ ὑμῶν ὑστέρημα, ὅπως γένηται ἰσότης: 15 καθὼς γέγραπται, ὁ τὸ πολὺ οὐκ ἐπλεόνασεν, καὶ ὁ τὸ ὀλίγον οὐκ ἠλαττόνησεν.

1 And now, brethren, we must tell you about the grace which God has lavished upon the churches of Macedonia:[1] 2 how well they have stood the test of distress, how abundantly they have rejoiced over it, how abject is their poverty, and how the crown of all this has been a rich measure of generosity in them.[2] 3 I can testify that of their own accord they undertook to do all they could, and more than they could; 4 they begged us, most urgently, to allow them the privilege of helping to supply the needs of the saints. 5 And their gift went beyond our hopes; they gave their own services to the Lord, which meant, as God willed, to us; 6 so that we were able to ask Titus to visit you again, and finish this gracious task he had begun, as part of his mission.[3] 7 You excel in so much already, in faith, in power of utterance, in knowledge of the truth, in devotion of every kind, in your loving treatment of us; may this gracious excellence be yours too. 8 I say this, not to lay any injunction on you, but only to make sure that your charity rings true by telling you about the eagerness of others. 9 (You do not need to be reminded how gracious our Lord Jesus Christ was; how he impoverished himself for your sakes, when he was so rich, so that you might become rich through his poverty), 10 I am only giving you my advice, then, in this matter; you can claim that as your due, since it was you who led the way, not only in acting, but in proposing to act, as early as last year. 11 It remains for you now to complete your action; readiness of the will must be completed by deeds, as far as your means allow. 12 We value a man’s readiness of will according to the means he has, not according to the means he might have, but has not; 13 and there is no intention that others should be relieved at the price of your distress. No, a balance is to be struck, 14 and what you can spare now is to make up for what they want; so that what they can spare may, in its turn, make up for your want, and thus the balance will be redressed. 15 So we read in scripture, He who had gathered much had nothing left over, and he who had gathered little, no lack.[4]

1 Notam autem facimus vobis, fratres, gratiam Dei, quæ data est in ecclesiis Macedoniæ: 2 quod in multo experimento tribulationis abundantia gaudii ipsorum fuit, et altissima paupertas eorum, abundavit in divitias simplicitatis eorum: 3 quia secundum virtutem testimonium illis reddo, et supra virtutem voluntarii fuerunt, 4 cum multa exhortatione obsecrantes nos gratiam, et communicationem ministerii, quod fit in sanctos. 5 Et non sicut speravimus, sed semetipsos dederunt primum Domino, deinde nobis per voluntatem Dei, 6 ita ut rogaremus Titum, ut quemadmodum cœpit, ita et perficiat in vobis etiam gratiam istam. 7 Sed sicut in omnibus abundatis fide, et sermone, et scientia, et omni sollicitudine, insuper et caritate vestra in nos, ut et in hac gratia abundetis. 8 Non quasi imperans dico: sed per aliorum sollicitudinem, etiam vestræ caritatis ingenium bonum comprobans. 9 Scitis enim gratiam Domini nostri Jesu Christi, quoniam propter vos egenus factus est, cum esset dives, ut illius inopia vos divites essetis. 10 Et consilium in hoc do: hoc enim vobis utile est, qui non solum facere, sed et velle cœpistis ab anno priore: 11 nunc vero et facto perficite: ut quemadmodum promptus est animus voluntatis, ita sit et perficiendi ex eo quod habetis. 12 Si enim voluntas prompta est, secundum id quod habet, accepta est, non secundum id quod non habet. 13 Non enim ut aliis sit remissio, vobis autem tribulatio, sed ex æqualitate. 14 In præsenti tempore vestra abundantia illorum inopiam suppleat: ut et illorum abundantia vestræ inopiæ sit supplementum, ut fiat æqualitas, sicut scriptum est: 15 Qui multum, non abundavit: et qui modicum, non minoravit.

16 Χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ τῷ δόντι τὴν αὐτὴν σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ Τίτου, 17 ὅτι τὴν μὲν παράκλησιν ἐδέξατο, σπουδαιότερος δὲ ὑπάρχων αὐθαίρετος ἐξῆλθεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς. 18 συνεπέμψαμεν δὲ μετ' αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀδελφὸν οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ διὰ πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν 19 οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ χειροτονηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν συνέκδημος ἡμῶν σὺν τῇ χάριτι ταύτῃ τῇ διακονουμένῃ ὑφ' ἡμῶν πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου δόξαν καὶ προθυμίαν ἡμῶν, 20 στελλόμενοι τοῦτο μή τις ἡμᾶς μωμήσηται ἐν τῇ ἁδρότητι ταύτῃ τῇ διακονουμένῃ ὑφ' ἡμῶν: 21 προνοοῦμεν γὰρ καλὰ οὐ μόνον ἐνώπιον κυρίου ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον ἀνθρώπων. 22 συνεπέμψαμεν δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν ὃν ἐδοκιμάσαμεν ἐν πολλοῖς πολλάκις σπουδαῖον ὄντα, νυνὶ δὲ πολὺ σπουδαιότερον πεποιθήσει πολλῇ τῇ εἰς ὑμᾶς. 23 εἴτε ὑπὲρ Τίτου, κοινωνὸς ἐμὸς καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς συνεργός: εἴτε ἀδελφοὶ ἡμῶν, ἀπόστολοι ἐκκλησιῶν, δόξα Χριστοῦ. 24 τὴν οὖν ἔνδειξιν τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμῶν καὶ ἡμῶν καυχήσεως ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐνδεικνύμενοι εἰς πρόσωπον τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν.

16 I thank God for inspiring the heart of Titus, your representative, with the same eagerness.[5] 17 He has accepted our invitation; but indeed, of his own choice he was eager to visit you. 18 And we are sending with him that brother of ours, who has won the praise of all the churches by his proclamation of the gospel; 19 he, too, is the man whom the churches have appointed to be our companion in this gracious ministry of ours, to further the Lord’s glory and our own resolve. 20 They were anxious that no suspicion should be aroused against us, with these great sums to handle; 21 it is not only in the Lord’s sight, but in the sight of men, that we have to study our behaviour. 22 And, to accompany these, we are sending a brother of whose eagerness we have had good proof, in many ways and upon many occasions; now he is more eager than ever, such is the confidence he feels in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and has shared my work among you; as for these brethren of ours, they are the envoys of the churches, the glory of Christ: 24 give them proof, then, of your charity, and of the good reason we have to be proud of you, for all the churches to see.

16 Gratias autem Deo, qui dedit eamdem sollicitudinem pro vobis in corde Titi, 17 quoniam exhortationem quidem suscepit: sed cum sollicitior esset, sua voluntate profectus est ad vos. 18 Misimus etiam cum illo fratrem, cujus laus est in Evangelio per omnes ecclesias: 19 non solum autem, sed et ordinatus est ab ecclesiis comes peregrinationis nostræ in hanc gratiam, quæ ministratur a nobis ad Domini gloriam, et destinatam voluntatem nostram: 20 devitantes hoc, ne quis nos vituperet in hac plenitudine, quæ ministratur a nobis. 21 Providemus enim bona non solum coram Deo, sed etiam coram hominibus. 22 Misimus autem cum illis et fratrem nostrum, quem probavimus in multis sæpe sollicitum esse: nunc autem multo sollicitiorem, confidentia multa in vos, 23 sive pro Tito, qui est socius meus, et in vos adjutor, sive fratres nostri, Apostoli ecclesiarum, gloria Christi. 24 Ostensionem ergo, quæ est caritatis vestræ, et nostræ gloriæ pro vobis, in illos ostendite in faciem ecclesiarum.

[1] vv. 1 and following: St Paul returns here, as in I Cor. 16. to the collection he was making in Macedonia and Achaia for the needs of the impoverished church at Jerusalem. It seems likely that in Macedonia (verses 2 and 3) and perhaps also in Achaia (verses 12 and 13) there had been hard times, and the Apostle is anxious not to appear as if he were making an unreasonable demand.

[2] ‘Generosity’; literally, ‘simplicity’, both here and in the following chapter.

[3] vv. 5, 6: The Greek perhaps implies that certain Macedonians offered their own services to St Paul with the expressed intention of setting Titus free to visit Corinth again.

[4] Ex. 16.18.

[5] ‘Titus, your representative, with the same eagerness’ (as yourselves); others would understand the meaning to be ‘Titus with the same eagerness for your welfare’ (as myself).

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd