¹⁶ Three times a year all your men must appear^(A) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^(B) the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.^(C) No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed:^(D)

⁹ “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.^(A) What you brought home, I blew^(B) away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin,^(C) while each of you is busy with your own house.

The Three Annual Festivals

¹⁴ “Three times^(A) a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

¹⁵ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread;^(B) for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv,^(C) for in that month you came out of Egypt.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.^(D)

¹⁶ “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest^(E) with the firstfruits^(F) of the crops you sow in your field.

“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering^(G) at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.^(H)

¹⁷ “Three times^(I) a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.

¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.^(A) Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts^(B) of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

²⁰ Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.^(A) Redeem all your firstborn sons.^(B)

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.^(C)

¹⁴ “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this?^(A) Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.^{(B) 15} We are foreigners and strangers^(C) in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow,^(D) without hope. ¹⁶ Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. ¹⁷ I know, my God, that you test the heart^(E) and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.^(F)

³ Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided^(A) for this holy temple: ⁴ three thousand talents^[a] of gold (gold of Ophir)^(B) and seven thousand talents^[b] of refined silver,^(C) for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, ⁵ for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today?”

⁶ Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials^(D) in charge of the king’s work gave willingly.^{(E) 7} They^(F) gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents^[c] and ten thousand darics^[d] of gold, ten thousand talents^[e] of silver, eighteen thousand talents^[f] of bronze and a hundred thousand talents^[g] of iron. ⁸ Anyone who had precious stones^(G) gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite.^{(H) 9} The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly^(I) to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.