1. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints,
2. for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them.
3. But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
4. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident.
5. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.