2 Corinthians 9:5

Contextual Overview

¹There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. ¹ There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord's people. ¹ For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints; ¹For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints; ¹I don't need to keep going on and on about lending a hand to the cowboys in Jerusalem. ¹ But there is no need for me to say anything in my letter about the giving to the saints: ¹ For concerning the ministration which [is] for the saints, it is superfluous my writing to you. ¹ Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it is unnecessary for me to write to you. ¹ It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints, ¹ For concerning the ministring to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and make: 2 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Corinthians 16:2

bounty: Gr. blessing, Genesis 33:11, 1 Samuel 25:27, 1 Samuel 30:26, *marg. 2 Kings 5:15

whereof ye had notice before: or, which hath been so much spoken of before

Reciprocal: Leviticus 23:22 - General Deuteronomy 15:10 - thine heart Deuteronomy 16:10 - according Joshua 15:19 - a blessing Judges 1:15 - a blessing Judges 5:9 - offered 1 Kings 3:6 - mercy Proverbs 11:24 - that scattereth Isaiah 36:16 - Make an agreement with me by a present Joel 2:14 - and leave Acts 28:10 - laded 2 Corinthians 9:3 - ye may Philemon 1:14 - thy benefit 1 John 3:17 - whoso

Cross-References

Genesis 9:1
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And god blessed Noah, and his sonnes, & saide vnto them, be fruitfull and multiplie, and replenishe the earth.

Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Have many children. Fill the earth with your people.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blisside Noe and hise sones, and seide to hem, Encreesse ye, and be ye multiplied, and fille ye the erthe;

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah, and his sonnes, and said vnto them, Bee fruitfull and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren,.... Titus, and the other two, on whom he did not lay his commands, or apostolical injunctions, according to the authority and dignity of his office; only exhorted or besought them, and which was judged by him very needful and proper at this time:

that they would go before hand unto you; before him, and the Macedonian brethren that might probably come with him:

and make up before hand your bounty; or blessing; for any present sent, or delivered, by one person to another, as a token of their friendship, favour, and good will, whether in a necessitous case or not, was by the Jews called ברכה, "a blessing"; see Genesis 33:11 and especially what is contributed for the relief of the poor may be so called, because it is not only a part of the bounty of Providence, and blessings of life, with which men are favoured; but is also one way of blessing God for the mercies he has blessed them with, and likewise of blessing, or doing good to fellow creatures and Christians. Moreover, because for this the poor bless their benefactors; and it is a blessing itself to do good to others. Now the apostle judged it expedient to send the brethren before hand to complete and finish this good work begun.

Whereof, says he,

ye had notice before: in his former epistle, 1 Corinthians 16:1 or which was promised before by them; or had been spoken of so much before by him to other churches:

that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, or blessing,

not as of covetousness; that is, that the collection being ready made, largely and liberally, it might appear to be a free generous action, and show what a noble bountiful disposition they were of; and not performed as covetous men usually do what they do, sparingly, tenaciously, keeping their money as long as they can, being loath to part with it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore I thought it necessary ... - In order to secure the collection, and to avoid all unpleasant feeling on all hands.

That they would go before unto you - Before I should come.

And make up beforehand your bounty - Prepare it before I come. The word “bounty” is in the margin, rendered “blessing.” The Greek (εὐλογία eulogia) means properly commendation, eulogy. Then it means blessing, praise applied to God. Then that which blesses - a gift, donation, favor, bounty - whether of God to human beings, or of one man to another. Here it refers to their contribution as that which would be adapted to confer a blessing on others, or suited to produce happiness.

That the same might be ready as a matter of bounty - That it may truly appear as a liberal and voluntary offering; as an act of generosity and not as wrung or extorted from you. That it may be truly a blessing - a thank-offering to God and adapted to do good to people.

And not as of covetousness - “And not like a sort of extortion, wrung from you by mere dint of importunity” - Doddridge. The word used here (πλεονεξία pleonexia) means usually covetousness, greediness of gain, which leads a person to defraud others. The idea here is, that Paul would have them give this as an act of bounty, or liberality on their part, and not as an act of covetousness on his part, not as extorted by him from them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Corinthians 9:5. Whereof ye had notice before — Instead of προκατηγγελμενην, spoken of before, BCDEFG, several others, with the Coptic, Vulgate, Itala, and several of the fathers, have προεπηγγελμενην, what was promised before. The sense is not very different; probably the latter reading was intended to explain the former. See the margin.

Bounty, and not as of covetousness. — Had they been backward, strangers might have attributed this to a covetous principle; as it would appear that they were loth to give up their money, and that they parted with it only when they could not for shame keep it any longer. This is the property of a covetous heart; whereas readiness to give is the characteristic of a liberal mind. This makes a sufficiently plain sense; and we need not look, as some have done, for any new sense of πλεονεξια, covetousness, as if it were here to be understood as implying a small gift.