Municipal Judges and Officers

¹⁸ “You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people.^{(A) 19} You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.^{(B) 20} Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Limitations of Royal Authority

¹⁴ “When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’^{(A) 15} you may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community.^{(B) 16} Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You must never return that way again.’^{(C) 17} And he must not acquire many wives for himself or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself.^{(D) 18} When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.^{(E) 19} It shall remain with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes,^{(F) 20} neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.^(G)

Encouragement to Be Generous

8 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia, 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. ³ For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means and even beyond their means, ⁴ begging us earnestly for the favor^[a] of partnering in this ministry to the saints,^{(A) 5} and not as we expected. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, ⁶ so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking^[b] among you.^{(B) 7} Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you^[c]—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.^[d](C)

⁸ I do not say this as a command, but I am, by mentioning the eagerness of others, testing the genuineness of your love.^{(D) 9} For you know the generous act^[e] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.^{(E) 10} And in this matter I am giving my opinion: it is beneficial for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something.^{(F) 11} Now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.^{(G) 12} For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.^{(H) 13} For I do not mean that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality between ¹⁴ your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, in order that there may be equality. ¹⁵ As it is written,

Commendation of Titus

¹⁶ But thanks be to God, who put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for you that I myself have.

The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge

18 Then Jesus^[a] told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³ In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”^{[b] 6} And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? ⁸ I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”