1. Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace God has given to Messiah’s communities in Macedonia—
2. that in much testing by affliction, the abundance of their joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
3. For I testify that according to their ability, and even beyond their ability, they gave of their own free will—
4. begging us with much urging for the favor of sharing in the relief of the kedoshim.
5. Moreover, it was not just as we had hoped, but they gave of themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.