budgeting

⁹Honor the Lord with your substance, and give to him from the first of all your fruits,

²⁸For who among you, wanting to build a tower, would not first sit down and determine the costs that are required, to see if he has the means to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, after he will have laid the foundation and not been able to finish it, everyone who sees it may begin to mock him, ³⁰saying: ‘This man began to build what he was not able to finish.’

⁷The rich rule over the poor. And the borrower is servant to the lender.

²²Intentions dissipate where there is no counsel. Yet truly, they are confirmed where there are many counselors.

³³Therefore, seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you as well.

²³Be diligent to know the countenance of your cattle, and consider your own flocks,

⁶Go to the ant, you lazy one, and consider her ways, and so learn wisdom. ⁷For though she has no ruler, nor instructor, nor leader, ⁸she provides meals for herself in the summer, and she gathers at the harvest what she may eat.

²⁰There is desirable treasure, as well as oil, in the habitations of the just. And the imprudent man will waste it.

⁶But I say this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows with blessings shall also reap from blessings:

⁵The intentions of the robust continually bring forth abundance. But all the lazy are continually in need.

²Here and now, it is required of attendants that each one be found to be faithful.

¹⁷Instruct the wealthy of this age not to have a superior attitude, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, who offers us everything in abundance to enjoy, ¹⁸and to do good, to become rich in good works, to donate readily, to share, ¹⁹to gather for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may obtain true life.

¹⁹Do not choose to store up for yourselves treasures on earth: where rust and moth consume, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰Instead, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither rust nor moth consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there also is your heart.

⁸And I will move all nations. And the Desired of all nations will arrive. And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

⁴Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence. ⁵Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky.

¹⁵Do not choose to love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world is the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the arrogance of a life which is not of the Father, but is of the world. ¹⁷And the world is passing away, with its desire. But whoever does the will of God abides unto eternity.

²³Be diligent to know the countenance of your cattle, and consider your own flocks, ²⁴for you will not always hold this power. But a crown shall be awarded from generation to generation. ²⁵The meadows are open, and the green plants have appeared, and the hay has been collected from the mountains. ²⁶Lambs are for your clothing, and goats are for the price of a field. ²⁷Let the milk of goats be sufficient for your food, and for the necessities of your household, and for the provisions of your handmaids.

¹⁰For desire is the root of all evils. Some persons, hungering in this way, have strayed from the faith and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.

²On the first day of the week, the Sabbath, let each one of you take from himself, setting aside what will be well-pleasing to him, so that when I arrive, the collections will not have to be made then.