giving

⁷each one giving, just as he has determined in his heart, neither out of sadness, nor out of obligation. For God loves a cheerful giver.

³⁸Give, and it will be given to you: a good measure, pressed down and shaken together and overflowing, they will place upon your lap. Certainly, the same measure that you use to measure out, will be used to measure back to you again.”

³⁵I have revealed all things to you, because by laboring in this way, it is necessary to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

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

¹⁰Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, and let there be food in my house. And test me about this, says the Lord, as to whether I will not open to you the floodgates of heaven, and pour out to you a blessing, all the way to abundance.

²⁷Do not prevent him who is able from doing good. When you are able, do good yourself too.

¹“Pay attention, lest you perform your justice before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward with your Father, who is in heaven. ²Therefore, when you give alms, do not choose to sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the towns, so that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your almsgiving may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

¹⁶But do not be willing to forget good works and fellowship. For God is deserving of such sacrifices.

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.

¹⁷Whoever is merciful to the poor lends to the Lord. And he will repay him for his efforts.

⁴¹And Jesus, sitting opposite the offertory box, considered the way in which the crowd cast coins into the offertory, and that many of the wealthy cast in a great deal. ⁴²But when one poor widow had arrived, she put in two small coins, which is a quarter. ⁴³And calling together his disciples, he said to them: “Amen I say to you, that this poor widow has put in more than all those who contributed to the offertory. ⁴⁴For they all gave from their abundance, yet truly, she gave from her scarcity, even all that she had, her entire living.”

²⁴Some distribute their own goods, and they become wealthier. Others seize what is not their own, and they are always in need. ²⁵The soul that blesses shall be made fat. And whoever inebriates will likewise be inebriated himself.

³⁰But distribute to all who ask of you. And do not ask again of him who takes away what is yours.