³ If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and [obediently] do them, ⁴ then I will give you rain in its season, and the land will yield her produce and the trees of the field bear their fruit. ⁵ And your threshing season will last until grape gathering and the grape gathering [time] will last until planting, and you will eat your bread and be filled and live securely in your land. ⁶ I will also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down and there will be no one to make you afraid. I will also eliminate harmful animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.

Sharing among Believers

³² Now the company of believers was of one heart and soul, and not one [of them] claimed that anything belonging to him was [exclusively] his own, but everything was common property and for the use of all. ³³ And with great ability and power the apostles were continuously testifying to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace [God’s remarkable lovingkindness and favor and goodwill] rested richly upon them all. ³⁴ There was not a needy person among them, because those who were owners of land or houses were selling them, and bringing the proceeds of the sales ³⁵ and placing the money down at the apostles’ feet. Then it was distributed to each as anyone had need.

³⁶ Now Joseph, a Levite and native of Cyprus, who was surnamed ^[a]Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), ³⁷ sold a field belonging to him and brought the money and set it at the apostles’ feet.

Bear One Another’s Burdens

6 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any sin, you who are spiritual [that is, you who are responsive to the guidance of the Spirit] are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness [not with a sense of superiority or self-righteousness], keeping a watchful eye on yourself, so that you are not tempted as well. ² Carry one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the requirements of the law of Christ [that is, the law of Christian love].^{(A) 3} For if anyone thinks he is something [special] when [in fact] he is nothing [special except in his own eyes], he deceives himself. ⁴ But each one must carefully scrutinize his own work [examining his actions, attitudes, and behavior], and then he can have the personal satisfaction and inner joy of doing something commendable ^[a]without comparing himself to another. ⁵ For every person will have to bear [with patience] his own burden [of faults and shortcomings for which he alone is responsible].

⁹ For I will turn toward you [with favor and regard] and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish and confirm My covenant with you.^{(A) 10} You will eat the old supply of [abundant] produce, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new. ¹¹ I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject nor separate itself from you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. ¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright [with heads held high as free men].

¹³ ‘In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his own [ancestral] property. ¹⁴ If you sell anything to your friend or buy from your friend, you shall not wrong one another. ¹⁵ According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall ^[a]buy from your friend. And he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops [which may be harvested before you must restore the property to him]. ¹⁶ If the years [until the next Jubilee] are many, you shall increase the price, but if the years remaining are few, you shall reduce the price, because it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. ¹⁷ You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; for I am the Lord your God.

Of Poor Countrymen

³⁵ ‘Now if your fellow countryman becomes poor and his hand falters with you [that is, he has trouble repaying you for something], then you are to help and sustain him, [with courtesy and consideration] like [you would] a stranger or a temporary resident [without property], so that he may live among you.^{(A) 36} Do not charge him usurious interest, but fear your God [with profound reverence], so your countryman may [continue to] live among you. ³⁷ You shall not give him your money at interest, nor your food at a profit. ³⁸ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.