⁷ “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(A)you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, ⁸ but ^(B)you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. ⁹ Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your ^(C)eye look grudgingly^[a] on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he ^(D)cry to the Lord against you, and ^(E)you be guilty of sin. ¹⁰ You shall give to him freely, and ^(F)your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because ^(G)for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. ¹¹ For ^(H)there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ^(I)‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

The Righteous Will Never Be Moved

Encouragement to Give Generously

8 We want you to know, brothers,^[a] about the grace of God that has been ^(A)given among the churches of Macedonia, ² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and ^(B)their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For they gave ^(C)according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, ⁴ begging us earnestly ^(D)for the favor^[b] of taking part in ^(E)the relief of the saints— ⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they ^(F)gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. ⁶ Accordingly, ^(G)we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you ^(H)this act of grace. ⁷ But as ^(I)you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you^[c]—^(J)see that you excel in this act of grace also.

^8 (K)I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^(L)though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ And in this matter ^(M)I give my judgment: ^(N)this benefits you, who ^(O)a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ¹² For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable ^(P)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness ¹⁴ your abundance at the present time should supply ^(Q)their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. ¹⁵ As it is written, ^(R)“Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

^22 (A)Then came one of ^(B)the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet ²³ and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and ^(C)lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” ²⁴ And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and ^(D)thronged about him. ²⁵ And there was a woman ^(E)who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, ²⁶ and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. ²⁷ She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. ²⁸ For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” ^29 (F)And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her ^(G)disease. ³⁰ And Jesus, perceiving in himself that ^(H)power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” ³¹ And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” ³² And he looked around to see who had done it. ³³ But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. ³⁴ And he said to her, “Daughter, ^(I)your faith has made you well; ^(J)go in peace, and be healed of your ^(K)disease.”

³⁵ While he was still speaking, there came from ^(L)the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why ^(M)trouble ^(N)the Teacher any further?” ³⁶ But overhearing^[a] what they said, Jesus said to ^(O)the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” ³⁷ And he allowed no one to follow him except ^(P)Peter and James and ^(Q)John the brother of James. ³⁸ They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus^[b] saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹ And when he had entered, he said to them, ^(R)“Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but ^(S)sleeping.” ⁴⁰ And they laughed at him. But he ^(T)put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. ^41 (U)Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, ^(V)arise.” ⁴² And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. ⁴³ And ^(W)he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.