³ I have sent the brothers so that our boasting about you in this respect may turn out to be true—so that you may be ready, just as I said you were. ⁴ Otherwise, imagine what it would be like if people from Macedonia came with me and found you weren’t ready! That would bring shame on us in this business, not to say on you. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to exhort the brothers that they should go on to you in advance, and get everything about your gracious gift in order ahead of time. You’ve already promised it, after all. Then it really will appear as a gift of grace, not something that has had to be extorted from you.