investment

¹Cast your bread over running waters. For, after a long time, you shall find it again. ²Give a portion to seven, and indeed even to eight. For you do not know what evil may be upon the earth in the future. ³If the clouds have been filled, they will pour forth rain upon the earth. If a tree falls to the south, or to the north, or to whatever direction it may fall, there it shall remain. ⁴Whoever heeds the wind will not sow. And whoever considers the clouds will never reap. ⁵In the same manner that you do not know the way of the spirit, nor the way that bones are joined together in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the works of God, who is the Maker of all. ⁶In the morning, sow your seed, and in the evening, do not let your hand cease. For you do not know which of these may rise up, the one or the other. But if both rise up together, so much the better.

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

³³Sell what you possess, and give alms. Make for yourselves purses that will not wear out, a treasure that will not fall short, in heaven, where no thief approaches, and no moth corrupts. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

²⁰Instead, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither rust nor moth consumes, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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

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.’ ”

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.”

⁴And there shall not be anyone indigent or begging among you, so that the Lord your God may bless you in the land which he will deliver to you as a possession.

²³When you will have entered into the land, and will have planted in it fruit trees, you shall take away their first-fruits; the fruit that germinates shall be unclean to you, neither shall you eat from these. ²⁴But in the fourth year, all their fruit shall be sanctified for the praise of the Lord. ²⁵And in the fifth year you shall eat the produce, gathering the fruits which are brought forth. I am the Lord your God.

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.

¹The parables of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, ²in order to know wisdom and discipline, ³to understand words of prudence, and to accept the instruction of doctrine, justice and judgment, and equity, ⁴so as to give discernment to little ones, knowledge and understanding to adolescents. ⁵By listening, the wise shall become wiser and the intelligent shall possess governments. ⁶He shall turn his soul to a parable and to its interpretation, to the words of the wise and their enigmas.

¹⁷Whoever possesses the goods of this world, and sees his brother to be in need, and yet closes his heart to him: in what way does the love of God abide in him?

¹¹Substance obtained in haste will be diminished. But what is collected by hand, little by little, shall be multiplied.

⁸The book of this law shall not depart from your mouth. Instead, you shall meditate upon it, day and night, so that you may observe and do all the things that are written in it. Then you shall direct your way and understand it.

¹⁵Be solicitous in the task of presenting yourself before God as a proven and unashamed worker who has handled the Word of Truth correctly.