2 Corinthians 9:4

lest haply The earlier editions have happily(paraventure, Tyndale), with the same meaning as in the text.

they of Macedonia We should rather say in English any Macedonians. From this it has been inferred that the brethren sent previously were not Macedonians. See ch. 2 Corinthians 8:17-24.

we (that we say not, you)] The -we" is emphatic. We have another instance here of what we might call the gentlemanly instinct of the Apostle. See note on ch. 2 Corinthians 7:3. -I should be ashamed of my confidence, and, might I not add, you also would be ashamed that I should have expressed it."

confident boasting The word - boasting" is omitted by most recent editors. It is absent from the best MSS. and versions, and has probably been introduced from ch. 2 Corinthians 11:17. The rendering in this case must be - in this confidence" i.e. which I have had in you. Some would render by -foundation" or -substance" (in hoc substantia, Vulg.), the latter being the literal rendering of the word (see Hebrews 11:1, also 2 Corinthians 1:3 where it is translated person); but in Hebrews 3:14, as in Classical Greek and in the LXX., it means and is rendered confidence. It means originally (1) that on which one takes one's stand; or (2) that which stands beneath us. Hence in later Greek theology it came to mean person, as the underlying entity at the root of all apparent being. Compare our English words understand, understanding, which however, like the Latin substantia, have had a different history, and have arrived at a different signification.