2 Corinthians
Chapter 9
1 1 Now about the service to the holy ones, it is superfluous for me to write to you,
其实，关于供应圣徒之事，我给你们写信原是多余的，
2 for I know your eagerness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia 2 has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them.
因为我知道你们甘心情愿做。对这事，我曾向马其顿人夸耀过你们，说阿哈雅从去年就预备好了，并且你们的热心曾激励了很多的人，
3 Nonetheless, I sent the brothers 3 so that our boast about you might not prove empty in this case, so that you might be ready, as I said,
不过，我打发那几位弟兄去，好使我们在这方面所夸耀于你们的，不致于落空，好叫你们正如我所说过的，准备好了，
4 for fear that if any Macedonians come with me and find you not ready we might be put to shame (to say nothing of you) in this conviction.
免得万一马其顿人与我同去，见你们没有准备好，使我们在这件事上受到羞辱，那更不用说你们了。
5 So I thought it necessary to encourage the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for your promised gift, so that in this way it might be ready as a bountiful gift and not as an exaction.
所以我认为必须请求那几位弟兄先到你们那里，把你们从前所应许的大量捐助先准备好，齐备的好象是出于大方，而不是出于小气。
6 Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
再一说：小量播种的，也要小量收获；大量播种的，也要大量收获。
7 Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
每人照心中所酌量的捐助，不要心痛，也不要勉强，因为‘天主爱乐捐的人。’
8 4 Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work.
天主能丰厚地赐与你们各种恩惠，使你们在一切事上常十分充足，能多多行各种善事，
9 As it is written: ＂He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.＂
正如经上记载说：‘衪博施济贫，衪的仁义永世常存。’
10 The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
那供给播种者种子，而又供给食粮作吃食的，必要供给和增多你们的种子，且使你们仁义的出产增加，
11 5 You are being enriched in every way for all generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God,
叫你们事事富足，以致十分慷慨，致使人因此借着我们而产生出感谢天主的心情，
12 for the administration of this public service is not only supplying the needs of the holy ones but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God.
因为办这种供应的事，不但补助了圣徒的贫乏，而还可叫许多人多多感谢天主。
13 Through the evidence of this service, you are glorifying God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution to them and to all others,
借着这次供应的证明，他们必要因你们而明认和服从基督的福音，和你们对他们以及众人的慷慨捐助，而光荣天主；
14 while in prayer on your behalf they long for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.
同时，他们也必因天主在你们身上所赐的鸿恩，而为你们祈祷，而向往你们。
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
感谢天主，为他莫可名言的恩赐！
Footnotes(注解)
1 [1-15] Quite possibly this was originally an independent letter, though it deals with the same subject and continues many of the same themes. In that case, it may have been written a few weeks later than 2 Cor 8, while the delegation there mentioned was still on its way.
2 [2] Achaia: see the note on Romans 15:26.
3 [3] I sent the brothers: the Greek aorist tense here could be epistolary, referring to the present; in that case Paul would be sending them now, and 2 Cor 9:9 would merely conclude the letter of recommendation begun in 2 Cor 9:8. But the aorist may also refer to a sending that is past as Paul writes; then 2 Cor 9:9, with its apparently fresh beginning, is a follow-up message entrusted to another carrier.
4 [8-10] The behavior to which he exhorts them is grounded in God's own pattern of behavior. God is capable of overwhelming generosity, as scripture itself attests (2 Cor 9:9), so that they need not fear being short. He will provide in abundance, both supplying their natural needs and increasing their righteousness. Paul challenges them to godlike generosity and reminds them of the fundamental motive for encouragement: God himself cannot be outdone.
5 [11-15] Paul's vision broadens to take in all the interested parties in one dynamic picture. His language becomes liturgically colored and conveys a sense of fullness. With a final play on the words charis and eucharistia (see the note on 2 Cor 8:1), he describes a circle that closes on itself: the movement of grace overflowing from God to them and handed on from them through Paul to others is completed by the prayer of praise and thanksgiving raised on their behalf to God.