1. Now we make known to you, brothers, the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia,
2. that with a great ordeal of affliction, the abundance of their joy and the extreme depth of their poverty have overflowed to the wealth of their generosity.
3. I testify that they gave according to their ability, and beyond their ability, by their own choice,
4. requesting of us with much exhortation the favor and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints,
5. and not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, by the will of God.
6. So we urged Titus that, just as he had previously begun it, thus he would also complete for you this act of grace.
7. But just as you excel in everything—in faith and in speaking and in knowledge and with all diligence and in the love from us that is in you—so may you excel in this grace also.
8. I am not saying this as a command, but proving the genuineness of your love by means of the diligence of others.