Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

And he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:

And he that ministereth seed to the sower, will both give you bread to eat, and will multiply your seed, and increase the growth of the fruits of your justice:

Now he that supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and make abundant your sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:

and may He who is supplying seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,

Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

And God who continually supplies seed for the sower and bread for eating, will supply you with seed and multiply it, and will cause your almsgiving to yield a plentiful harvest.

And he who gives seed for putting into the field and bread for food, will take care of the growth of your seed, at the same time increasing the fruits of your righteousness;

And he who ministers seed to the sower will offer you bread to eat, and will multiply your seed, and will increase the growth of the fruits of your justice.

And he who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for eating, will supply you with seed, and cause it to increase, and will multiply the fruits of your righteousness).

He that supplieth. A beautieth circumlocution, in place of the term God, and full of consolation. [1] For the person that sows seed in the proper season, appears when reaping to gather the fruit of his labor and industry, and sowing appears as though it were the fountainhead from which food flows forth to us. Paul opposes this idea, by maintaining that the seed is afforded and the food is furnished by the favor of God even to the husbandmen that sow, and who are looked upon as supporting themselves and others by their efforts. There is a similar statement in Deuteronomy 8:16,18 -- God fed thee with manna -- food which thy fathers knew not: lest perhaps when thou hast come into the land which he shall give thee, thou shouldst say, My hand and my strength have gotten, me this wealth; for it is the Lord that giveth power to get wealth, etc. Supply Here there are two different readings, even in the Greek versions. For some manuscripts render the three verbs in the future -- will supply, will multiply, will increase. [2] In this way, there would be a confirmation of the foregoing statement, for it is no rare thing with Paul to repeat the same promise in different words, that it may be the better impressed upon men's minds. In other manuscripts these words occur in the infinitive mood, and it is well known that the infinitive is sometimes used in place of the optative. I rather prefer this reading, both because it is the more generally received one, and because Paul is accustomed to follow up his exhortations with prayers, entreating from God what he had previously comprised in his doctrine; though at the same time the former reading would not be unsuitable. Bread for food He mentions a two-fold fruit of the blessing of God upon us -- first, that we have sufficiency for ourselves for the support of life; and, secondly, that we have something to lay up for relieving the necessities of others. For as we are not born for ourselves merely, [3] so a Christian man ought neither to live to himself, nor lay out what he has, merely for his own use. Under the terms seed, and fruits of righteousness, he refers to alms. The fruits of righteousness he indirectly contrasts with those returns that the greater number lay up in cellars, barns, and keeping-places, that they may, every one of them, cram in whatever they can gather, nay, scrape together, so as to enrich themselves. By the former term he expresses the means of doing good; by the latter the work itself, or office of love; [4] for righteousness is taken here, by synecdoche, to mean beneficence. "May God not only supply you with what may be sufficient for every one's private use, but also to such an extent, that the fountain of your liberality, ever flowing forth, may never be exhausted!" If, however, it is one department of righteousness -- as assuredly it is not the least [5] -- to relieve the necessities of neighbors, those must be unrighteous who neglect this department of duty.

Footnotes

1 - "The words ho epichoregon brosin are a periphrasis of God (i.e., the Good Being) who giveth us all things richly to enjoy.' It is formed on Isaiah 55:10." -- Bloomfield. -- Ed.

2 - "The Vatican MS. reads with the futures -- choregesei (will supply,) plethunei, (will supply,) and auxesei, (will increase) " -- Penn. -- Ed.

3 - Our Author has here very probably in his eye a celebrated passage in Horace -- "Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati;" -- "We do but add to the numbers of mankind, and seem born only to consume the fruits of the earth." (Hot. Ep. 1:2, 27.) -- Ed.

4 - "L'assistance laquelle on fait par charite;" -- "The assistance which one gives in love."

5 - "Comme a la verite s'en est vne des prineipales;" -- "As in truth it is one of the chief'."

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower - This is an expression of an earnest wish. In the previous verses he had stated the promises, or had shown what we had a right to expect as a consequence of liberality. He here unites the expression of an earnest desire that they might experience this themselves. The allusion is to the act of sowing seed. The idea is, that when a man scatters seed in his field God provides him with the means of sowing again. He not only gives him a harvest to supply his needs, but he blesses him also in giving him the ability to sow again. Such was the benevolent wish of Paul. He desired not only that God would supply their returning needs, but he desired also that he would give them the ability to do good again; that he would furnish them the means of future benevolence. He acknowledges God as the source of all increase, and wishes that they may experience the results of such increase. Perhaps in this language there is an allusion to Isaiah 4:10; and the idea is, that it is God who furnishes by his providence the seed to the sower. In like manner he will furnish you the means of doing good.
Minister bread for your food - Furnish you with an ample supply for your needs.
Multiply your seed sown - Greatly increase your means of doing good; make the result of all your benefactions so to abound that you may have the means of doing good again, and on a larger scale, as the seed sown in the earth is so increased that the farmer may have the means of sowing more abundantly again.
And increase the fruits of your righteousness - This evidently means, the results and effects of their benevolence. The word "righteousness" here refers to their liberality; and the wish of the apostle is, that the results of their beneficence might greatly abound, that they might have the means of doing extensive good, and that they might be the means of diffusing happiness from afar.

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower - The sower, as we have already seen, is he that gives alms of what he hath; and God, who requires him to give these alms, is here represented as providing him with the means. As in the creation, if God had not created the earth with every tree and plant with its seed in itself, so that a harvest came, without a previous ploughing and sowing, there could have been no seed to deposit in the earth; so, if God had not, in the course of his providence, given them the property they had, it would be impossible for them to give alms. And as even the well cultivated and sowed field would be unfruitful if God did not, by his unseen energy and blessing, cause it to bring forth, and bring to maturity; so would it have been with their property: it could not have increased; for without his blessing riches take wings and flee away, as an eagle towards heaven. Therefore, in every sense, it is God who ministers seed to the sower, and multiplies the seed sown. And as all this properly comes from God, and cannot exist without him, he has a right to require that it be dispensed in that way which he judges best.
The word ὁ - επιχορηγων, he that ministereth, is very emphatic; it signifies he who leads up the chorus, from επι, to, and χορηγω, to lead the chorus; it means also to join to, associate, to supply or furnish one thing after another so that there be no want or chasm. Thus God is represented, in the course of his providence, associating and connecting causes and effects; keeping every thing in its proper place and state of dependence on another, and all upon himself; so that summer and winter, heat and cold, seed time and harvest, regularly succeed each other. Thus God leads up this grand chorus of causes and effects: provides the seed to the hand of the sower; gives him skill to discern the times when the earth should be prepared for the grain, and when the grain should be sowed; blesses the earth, and causes it to bring forth and bud, so that it may again minister seed to the sower and bread to the eater; and, by a watchful providence, preserves every thing. The figure is beautiful, and shows us the grand system of causes and effects, all directed by and under the immediate guidance and government of God himself.
There is a fine exemplification of this in the same figure thus produced by the prophet. Hosea 2:21, Hosea 2:22 : I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens; and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. See the note at Hosea 2:21.
The fruits of your righteousness - Your beneficence; for so δικαιοσυνηis here to be understood. See the note on Matthew 6:1, already referred to.

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for [your] food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the (i) fruits of your righteousness;)
(i) There is no inheritance as good to the godly as bountifulness is.

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, and bread for your food,.... For so the words ought to be pointed and read, as is clear from Isaiah 55:10 to which they refer; and are a "periphrasis" of God, who so blesses the seed that is cast into the earth, that it brings forth such an increase, as that there is a sufficiency of bread for food to the eater for the present year, and a sufficiency of seed to sow with again the next year; and that God, that does this every year, is able "to minister to", or supply your present necessities;
and to multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; though some consider these as a wish or prayer of the apostle's, that God would do all this for them. Some copies, and the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, read all in the future tense, "he will minister" to you, or "supply" you, "and will multiply your seed sown",
and will increase the fruits of your righteousness; and so contain a promise of a divine blessing, encouraging to liberality with cheerfulness, by strengthening their faith in the providence of God; who as he multiplies, not the seed expended in the family, or sold at market, or as in the barn, or laid up for a better price, but the seed sown in the field, so he will multiply the substance of men; not what they lay out on themselves and families, or lay up in their coffers, but what they give away, or bestow on Christ's poor: and all effects which follow acts of liberality, and which are here designed by "fruits of righteousness", such as a good name among men, blessing, praise, thanksgiving, and prosperity in things temporal and spiritual, these God will abundantly increase; some of which are mentioned in the following verses. So alms with the Jews is not only called "righteousness", but "seed sown". Thus Jarchi interprets Psalm 37:26 "and his seed is blessed", he that "sows" righteousness or alms, its end shall be for a blessing, or in the end he shall be blessed; and the phrase, "rain righteousness", in Hosea 10:12 is by the Septuagint rendered, , "fruits of righteousness", the same as here, from whence it seems to be taken.

Translate, as in Isaiah 55:10, "He that ministereth (supplieth) seed to the sower and bread for food" (literally, "bread for eating").
minister--rather future, as the oldest manuscripts, "Shall minister (supply) and multiply."
your seed--your means for liberality.
the fruits of your righteousness--the heavenly rewards for your Christian charity (Matthew 10:42). Righteousness shall be itself the reward, even as it is the thing rewarded (Hosea 10:12; Matthew 5:6; Matthew 6:33).

He that ministereth seed to the sower. God, who can, and does, bless charitable giving, will do so in the case of the Corinthians.
The fruits of their righteousness will be increased, for their means will be increased.
Being enriched. This explains how the fruits of righteousnesses are increased. As they are enriched it tends to bountifulness, and this causeth thanksgiving to God.
For the administration of the service. Two things result from the bountiful giving. (1) The wants of the saints are supplied. (2) Their thanksgiving for the relief glorifies God.
They glorify God. That the Corinthians had become subject to the gospel and God's means of succoring their temporal wants. Some Judaizing Christians at Jerusalem doubted whether the Gentile churches were really churches of Christ. Such a gift would tend to open their minds and remove their prejudices, an object very dear to the heart of Paul.
And by their prayer for you. Thus, filled with affection for you, and longing for you on account of the proof they had of God's grace to you, they glorify God by prayer for you.

And he who supplieth seed - Opportunity and ability to help others. And bread - All things needful for your own souls and bodies. Will continually supply you with that seed, yea, multiply it to you more and more. And increase the fruits of your righteousness - The happy effects of your love to God and man. Isaiah 55:10