² On ^(A)the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, ^(B)as he may prosper, ^(C)so that there will be no collecting when I come.

³ But ^(A)I am sending^[a] the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, ^(B)as I said you would be. ⁴ Otherwise, if some Macedonians ^(C)come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the ^(D)gift^[b] you have promised, so that it may be ready ^(E)as a willing gift, ^(F)not as an exaction.^[c]

Eutychus Raised from the Dead

^7 (A)On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together ^(B)to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

^9 (A)You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ^10 (B)Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby ^(C)put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open ^(D)the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

^10 (A)“One who is ^(B)faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

¹¹ For ^(A)there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ^(B)‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

^12 (C)“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold^[a] to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. ¹⁴ You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. ^(D)As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^(A)it is he who gives you power to get wealth, ^(B)that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

^10 (A)I was in the Spirit ^(B)on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice ^(C)like a trumpet

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,