King James Version · Under Rome
2 Corinthians 9
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For as touching the ministering to , it is superfluous for me to write to you: For I know the forwardness of , for which I boast of you to them of , that was ready a year ago; and your hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: Lest haply if they of come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be in this same confident boasting. 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. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in , so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for loveth a cheerful giver. And is able to make all abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As , He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to : his remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply sown, and increase the fruits of your ;) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us to . For the administration of this not only supplieth the want of , but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto ; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they for your professed subjection unto of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; And by their for you, which long after you for the exceeding of in you. Thanks be unto for his unspeakable gift.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.