2. for in a severe test of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
3. For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, spontaneously,
4. they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones,
5. and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us through the will of God,
6. so that we urged Titus that, as he had already begun, he should also complete for you this gracious act also.
7. Now as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also.
8. I say this not by way of command, but to test the genuineness of your love by your concern for others.
9. For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
10. And I am giving counsel in this matter, for it is appropriate for you who began not only to act but to act willingly last year:
11. complete it now, so that your eager willingness may be matched by your completion of it out of what you have.
12. For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have;
13. not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality