Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



"And take care not to practice your righteousness before people to be seen by them; {otherwise} you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Therefore whenever you practice charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet in front of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! But you, [when you] practice charitable giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, read more.
in order that your charitable giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Is this not [the] fast I choose: to release [the] bonds of injustice, to untie [the] ropes of [the] yoke, and to let [the] oppressed go free, and {tear} every yoke to pieces? [Is it] not to break your bread for the hungry? You must bring {home} [the] poor, [the] homeless. When you see [the] naked, you must cover him, and you must not hide yourself from your {relatives}.

" 'And if your countryman becomes poor and {if he becomes dependent on you}, then you shall support him [like] an alien and [like] a temporary resident, and he shall live with you.




"At the end of three years you shall bring out all [of] the tithe of your yield for that year, and you shall store [it] in your {towns}. And [so] the Levite may come, because there is no plot of ground for him or an inheritance with you, and the alien [also may come] and the orphan and the widow that [are] in your {towns}, and {they may eat their fill}, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all [of] the work of your hand that you undertake."

If [there] is a poor [person] among you from [among] one of your brothers in one of your {towns} that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward {your brother who is poor}. But you shall certainly open your hand for him, and {you shall willingly lend} [to] him enough to meet his need, {whatever it is}. {Take care} so that there will not be {a thought of wickedness} in your heart, {saying}, 'The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,' {and you view your needy neighbor with hostility}, and [so] you [do] not give to him, and he might cry [out] against you to Yahweh, and {you would incur guilt against yourself}. read more.
By all means you must give to him, and {you must not be discontented} at your giving to him, because on account of this [very] thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and {in all that you undertake}. For the poor will not cease to be {among you} [in] the land; therefore I [am] commanding you, {saying}, 'You shall willingly open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor [that are] in your land.'



Therefore I considered [it] necessary to urge the brothers that they should go on ahead to you and make arrangements in advance for your generous gift that was promised previously, so this would be prepared as a generous gift and not as grudgingly granted. Now [the point is] this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one [should give] as he has decided in his heart, not {reluctantly} or from compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.






And not only [this], but he was also chosen by the churches [as] our traveling companion together with this gift that is being administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself and [to show] our readiness [to help].

For it is unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the ministry to the saints, because I know your readiness [to help], [concerning] which I keep on boasting to the Macedonians about you, that Achaia has been ready [to help] since last year, and your zeal has stirred up the majority [of them]. But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you would not prove to be empty in this case, so that you may be prepared just as I was saying, read more.
lest somehow if Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, we--{not to speak of you}--would be humiliated in connection with this project. Therefore I considered [it] necessary to urge the brothers that they should go on ahead to you and make arrangements in advance for your generous gift that was promised previously, so this would be prepared as a generous gift and not as grudgingly granted. Now [the point is] this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one [should give] as he has decided in his heart, not {reluctantly} or from compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to cause all grace to abound to you, so that in everything at all times, [because you] have enough of everything, you may overflow in every good work. Just as it is written, "He scattered widely, he gave to the poor; his righteousness remains {forever}." Now the one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed, and will cause the harvest of your righteousness to grow, being made rich in every [way] for all generosity, which is producing through us thanksgiving to God, because the service of this ministry is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also is overflowing through many [expressions of] thanksgiving to God. Through the proven character of this service [they will] glorify God because of the submission of your confession to the gospel of Christ and the generosity of [your] participation toward them and toward everyone,


Now we make known to you, brothers, the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, that with a great ordeal of affliction, the abundance of their joy and the extreme depth of their poverty have overflowed to the wealth of their generosity. I testify that [they gave] according to [their] ability, and beyond [their] ability, by their own choice, read more.
requesting of us with much exhortation the favor and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints, and not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and [then] to us, by the will of God. So we urged Titus that, just as he had previously begun [it], thus he would also complete for you this [act of] grace. But just as you excel in everything--in faith and in speaking and in knowledge and with all diligence and in the love from us [that is] in you--so may you excel in this grace also. I am not saying [this] as a command, but proving the genuineness of your love by means of the diligence of others.

For it is unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the ministry to the saints, because I know your readiness [to help], [concerning] which I keep on boasting to the Macedonians about you, that Achaia has been ready [to help] since last year, and your zeal has stirred up the majority [of them]. But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you would not prove to be empty in this case, so that you may be prepared just as I was saying, read more.
lest somehow if Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, we--{not to speak of you}--would be humiliated in connection with this project. Therefore I considered [it] necessary to urge the brothers that they should go on ahead to you and make arrangements in advance for your generous gift that was promised previously, so this would be prepared as a generous gift and not as grudgingly granted.