Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

But I have sent the brethren, that our glorying on your behalf may not be made void in this respect; that, even as I said, ye may be prepared:

Now I have sent the brethren, that the thing which we boast of concerning you, be not made void in this behalf, that (as I have said) you may be ready:

But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made void in this respect, in order that, as I have said, ye may be prepared;

and I sent the brethren, that our boasting on your behalf may not be made vain in this respect; that, according as I said, ye may be ready,

Still I send the brethren in order that in this matter our boast about you may not turn out to have been an idle one; so that, as I have said, you may be ready;

But I have sent the brothers, so that the good things we said about you may be seen to be true, and that, as I said, you may be ready:

Now I have sent the brothers, so that what we glory about concerning you might not be empty in this matter, in order that (as I have explained) you may be prepared.

So my reason for sending our friends is to prevent what we said about you from proving, in this particular matter, an empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared as I have been saying that you are.

But I have sent the brethren. He now brings forward the reason -- why it is that, while entertaining a favorable opinion as to their willingness, he, nevertheless, sets himself carefully to exhort them. "I consult," says he, "my own good name and yours; for while I promised in your name, we would, both of us in common, incur disgrace, if words and deeds did not correspond. Hence you ought to take my fears in good part."

Yet have I sent the brethren - The brethren referred to in 2-Corinthians 8:18, 2-Corinthians 8:22-23.
Lest our boasting of you - That you were disposed to contribute, and that you were already prepared, and that the contribution was ready.
Should be in vain - Lest anything should have occurred to prevent the collection. I have sent them that they may facilitate it, and that it may be secure and certain.
In this behalf - In this respect. That is, lest our boasting of you, in regard to your readiness to contribute to relieve the needs of others, should be found to have been ill-grounded.

Yet have I sent the brethren - Titus and his companions, mentioned in the preceding chapter.
That, as I said, ye may be ready - And he wished them to be ready, that they might preserve the good character he had given them: this was for their honor; and if they did not take care to do so, he might be reputed a liar; and thus both they and himself be ashamed before the Macedonians, should any of them at this time accompany him to Corinth.

Yet have I sent the brethren,.... Titus, and the other two mentioned in the foregoing chapter: one manuscript reads, "we have sent"; and the Ethiopic version, "they have sent", that is, the Macedonians; but the common reading is best. It might be objected, that since the apostle knew the forwardness of their minds, how ready they were a year ago, and had boasted so much of their liberality, that it must be unnecessary to send the brethren to them, to stir them up to this work; which objection is prevented by observing the reason of his sending them:
lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf: or, "in this part", in this particular thing, , "concerning this business", or affair of beneficence to the poor, as the Syriac version renders it. He had boasted of them with respect to other things besides this; but he was chiefly concerned, knowing the frailty and changeableness of human nature, and how possible it was that their forwardness might abate, and they grow cold and indifferent to such service, lest his glorying of them should be in vain in this particular instance; wherefore he sent the brethren to put them on, that as they had begun they would finish:
that as I said ye may be ready, That as he had said to the Macedonians, that they were ready in mind, it might appear to be so; or as he had ordered them in his former epistle, they might be actually ready; have their collection ready made, so that there might be no gathering when he came.

have I sent--we should say, "I send"; whereas the ancients put it in the past, the time which it would be by the time that the letter arrived.
the brethren-- (2-Corinthians 8:18, 2-Corinthians 8:22) --Titus and the two others.
should be in vain in this behalf--"should be proved futile in this particular," however true in general (2-Corinthians 7:4). A tacit compliment, softening the sharp monition.
as I said--as I was saying (2-Corinthians 9:2).

Yet have I sent the brethren. See 2-Corinthians 8:17-18, 2-Corinthians 8:22. He sent them so that they would surely be prepared when he came.
Lest haply if they of Macedonia. Acts 20:4 named certain brethren of Macedonia who did attend him. If these should find Corinth unprepared with the collection when Paul came, after what he had said, it would fill him with shame.
Therefore. Hence, he thought it needful to send the brethren that the work might surely be conducted to completion, and the collection ready.
As a matter of bounty. As a free gift, cheerfully bestowed; not something extorted from them (see Revision).

I have sent the above mentioned brethren before me.