²⁹ So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters^[a] in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.

¹² Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. ¹³ Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. ¹⁴ Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal.

¹⁰ Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which I have always been eager to do.

² They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

³ For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. ⁴ They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.^[a]

The Collection for Jerusalem

16 Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. ² On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.

⁵ Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,

⁶ So we can say with confidence,

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

9 I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem.^{[a] 2} For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece^[b] were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.

⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

²⁵ But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers^[a] there. ²⁶ For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia^[b] have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. ²⁷ They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially.

²⁶ When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers^[a] were first called Christians.)