I … want to receive (literally, “I seek”) is in Greek an intensive verb with an active meaning of “I hunt for.” It is repeated in Greek in order to emphasize a strong contrast … not that I … want to … rather, I want to. This may be rendered as “my interest is not to receive gifts,” “my concern is not that I receive gifts,” or “I am really not interested in receiving gifts.”

Three key words now follow, all of them current business terms when this letter was written. (1) The word rendered profit is literally “fruit,” but it can be used in the sense of “interest” gained in a business transaction (Moffatt). (2) The word added translates a participial form of a verb meaning “to increase,” “to accumulate,” “to multiply,” suggesting compound interest. Paul welcomes the gifts, not so much for his personal benefit as for that of his friends. He considers their gifts a profitable investment in the service of God, for God will repay them rich dividends by adding interest to their account. (3) The third current business term appears in verse 18, namely receipt.

In some languages it may be impossible to produce a satisfactorily literal translation of I want to see profit added to your account, for many societies do not have the type of commercial structure which would provide the basis for such a rendering. In some instances the closest equivalent may be “I want to see even more good deeds added to the list of what you have done,” or “I want you to have an even better record of the good that you have done.”

Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .