What Does 2 Corinthians 9:5 Mean in the King James?
Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The gift is already taking shape before it reaches anyone: it can arrive as a blessing, or reveal a grasp for more.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the character a prepared gift carries: it can be made ready as a blessing, or be entangled with grasping. Its meaning shows before it is handed over, in how it is prepared. The offering is more than an amount; it bears the giver’s intent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Planning a gift makes it calculating and therefore ungenerous. The verse presents preparation as a way for the contribution to be ready as a blessing.
THE ROOT
εὐλογία
eulogia
GROWS FROM
εὐλογ-
eulog-
To speak well of; to bless. The word is built from εὖ (eu, well) and λέγω (legō, speak).
“Bounty” can sound like sheer quantity, but εὐλογία (eulogia) carries the sense of blessing. The prepared contribution takes on the character of something that brings good.
ALSO GROWS
eulogeō: To bless, speak well of
εὐλογέω
The related verb shows the blessing contained in the gift’s name.
eulogētos: Blessed, worthy of blessing
εὐλογητός
This related form describes what is blessed; here, the contribution is framed as a blessing.
πλεονεξία
pleonexia
GROWS FROM
πλέον + ἔχειν (pleon + echein)
More + to have: a desire to have more, or grasping for more.
“covetousness” in this verse is pleonexia. The verse sets blessing beside more-seeking desire. Its contrast is about the gift’s character: whether it carries good outward or turns toward grasping.
ALSO GROWS
pleonektēs: A greedy or grasping person
πλεονέκτης
This related noun names someone acting from the same desire to have more.
pleonekteō: To take advantage, defraud, or gain over
πλεονεκτέω
This related verb shows how the desire for more can become grasping at another’s expense.
THE PATTERN
Giving becomes a blessing through willing, prepared generosity rather than compulsion or grasping.
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.THE THREAD
And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.The Greek word εὐλογία (eulogia), translated “bounty” here, appears as “blessing” in Romans 15:29. That shared word lets the prepared contribution be seen as more than money: it carries blessing outward.
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