^2 (A)On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

^3 (A)Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; ⁴ lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this ^[a]confident boasting. ⁵ Therefore I thought it necessary to ^[b]exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a ^[c]grudging obligation.

Ministering at Troas

⁷ Now on ^(A)the first day of the week, when the disciples came together ^(B)to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

^10 (A)He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

¹¹ For ^(A)the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall ^[a]open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

The Law Concerning Bondservants

^12 (B)“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is ^(C)sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you ^[b]send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴ you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has ^(D)blessed you with, you shall give to him.

¹⁸ “And you shall remember the Lord your God, ^(A)for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, ^(B)that He may ^[a]establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

^10 (A)I was in the Spirit on ^(B)the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me ^(C)a loud voice, as of a trumpet,

Excel in Giving

8 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: ² that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and ^(A)their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. ³ For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,