giving 10 percent

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.

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.

²⁰And then he made a vow, saying: “If God will be with me, and will guard me along the way by which I walk, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹and if I will return prosperously to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God, ²²and this stone, which I have set up as a monument, will be called ‘the House of God.’ And from all the things that you will give to me, I will offer tithes to you.”

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.”

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.”

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

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.

¹And looking around, he saw the wealthy putting their donations into the offertory. ²Then he also saw a certain widow, a pauper, putting in two small brass coins. ³And he said: “Truly, I say to you, that this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴For all these, out of their abundance, have added to the gifts for God. But she, out of what she needed, has put in all that she had to live on.”

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.’ ”

⁸If a man will afflict God, then you greatly afflict me. And you have said, “In what way, do we afflict you?” In tithes and in first-fruits. ⁹And you have been cursed with privation, and you greatly afflict me, even your entire people. 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. ¹¹And I will rebuke for your sakes the devourer, and he will not corrupt the fruit of your land. Neither will the vine in the field be barren, says the Lord of hosts. ¹²And all nations will call you blessed. For you will be a desirable land, says the Lord of hosts.

⁸If a man will afflict God, then you greatly afflict me. And you have said, “In what way, do we afflict you?” In tithes and in first-fruits.

¹For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham, as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him. ²And Abraham divided to him a tenth part of everything. And in translation his name is first, indeed, king of justice, and next also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. ³Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, he is thereby likened to the Son of God, who remains a priest continuously. ⁴Next, consider how great this man is, since the Patriarch Abraham even gave tithes to him from the principal things. ⁵And indeed, those who are from the sons of Levi, having received the priesthood, hold a commandment to take tithes from the people in accord with the law, that is, from their brothers, even though they also went forth from the loins of Abraham. ⁶But this man, whose lineage is not enumerated with them, received tithes from Abraham, and he blessed even the one who held the promises.

⁹Honor the Lord with your substance, and give to him from the first of all your fruits, ¹⁰and then your storehouses will be filled with abundance, and your presses shall overflow with wine.

³⁰All the tithes of the land, whether from the grain, or from the fruits of trees, are for the Lord and are sanctified to him. ³¹But if anyone is willing to redeem his tithes, he shall add a fifth part to them. ³²Out of all the tithes of oxen, and sheep, and goats, which cross under the rod of the shepherd, every tenth one that arrives shall be sanctified to the Lord. ³³It shall not be chosen by what is good or bad; neither shall it be exchanged for another. If anyone has exchanged it, both that which was exchanged, and that for which it was exchanged, shall be sanctified to the Lord and shall not be redeemed.

⁵Let your behavior be without avarice; be content with what you are offered. For he himself has said, “I will not abandon you, and I will not neglect you.”