¹⁰ Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you.

² On the first day of every week,^(A) each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.^(B)

⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers^(A) to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift,^(B) not as one grudgingly given.^(C)

Generosity Encouraged

⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.^{(D) 7} Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give,^(E) not reluctantly or under compulsion,^(F) for God loves a cheerful giver.^{(G) 8} And God is able^(H) to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need,^(I) you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food^(L) will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.^{(M) 11} You will be enriched^(N) in every way so that you can be generous^(O) on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.^(P)

¹⁰ And here is my judgment^(A) about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.^(B)

¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe^(A) into the storehouse,^(B) that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates^(C) of heaven and pour out^(D) so much blessing^(E) that there will not be room enough to store it.^{(F) 11} I will prevent pests from devouring^(G) your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,^(H)” says the Lord Almighty.

¹⁵ “‘Now give careful thought^(A) to this from this day on^[a]—consider how things were before one stone was laid^(B) on another in the Lord’s temple.^{(C) 16} When anyone came to a heap^(D) of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat^(E) to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty.^{(F) 17} I struck all the work of your hands^(G) with blight,^(H) mildew and hail,^(I) yet you did not return^(J) to me,’ declares the Lord.^{(K) 18} ‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought^(L) to the day when the foundation^(M) of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: ¹⁹ Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate^(N) and the olive tree have not borne fruit.^(O)

“‘From this day on I will bless^(P) you.’”