² for during a severe ordeal of affliction their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?^(A)

⁹ “I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan.^(A)

¹³ Through the testing of this ministry you^[a] glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your partnership with them and with all others,^(A)

⁴⁵ they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds^[a] to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home^[b] and ate their food with glad and generous^[c] hearts,^(A)

⁴ There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy,

³ so that no one would be shaken by these persecutions. Indeed, you yourselves know that this is what we are destined for.^{(A) 4} In fact, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer persecution; so it turned out, as you know.

¹⁴ For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews^(A)

⁶ And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy from the Holy Spirit,^(A)