Robbing God

⁶ “For ^(A)I the Lord do not change; ^(B)therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. ^7 (C)From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. ^(D)Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ^(E)But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ ⁸ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. ^(F)But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ ^(G)In your tithes and contributions. ^9 (H)You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ^10 (I)Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby ^(J)put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open ^(K)the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will rebuke ^(L)the devourer^[a] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then ^(M)all nations will call you blessed, for you will be ^(N)a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the ^(B)Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

^(C)Grace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians' Faith and Example

^2 (D)We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly^{[a] (E)}mentioning you in our prayers, ³ remembering before ^(F)our God and Father ^(G)your work of faith and labor of ^(H)love and ^(I)steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we know, ^(J)brothers^[b] loved by God, ^(K)that he has chosen you, ⁵ because ^(L)our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and ^(M)in the Holy Spirit and with full ^(N)conviction. You know ^(O)what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶ And ^(P)you became imitators of us ^(Q)and of the Lord, for ^(R)you received the word in much affliction, ^(S)with the ^(T)joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷ so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. ⁸ For not only has the word of the Lord ^(U)sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth ^(V)everywhere, so that we need not say anything. ⁹ For they themselves report concerning us the kind of ^(W)reception we had among you, and how ^(X)you turned to God ^(Y)from idols to serve the living and ^(Z)true God, ¹⁰ and ^(AA)to wait for his Son ^(AB)from heaven, ^(AC)whom he raised from the dead, Jesus ^(AD)who delivers us from ^(AE)the wrath to come.

Paying Taxes to Caesar

^15 (A)Then the Pharisees went and plotted how ^(B)to entangle him in his words. ¹⁶ And they sent ^(C)their disciples to him, along with ^(D)the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, ^(E)we know that you are true and teach ^(F)the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for ^(G)you are not swayed by appearances.^{[a] 17} Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay ^(H)taxes to ^(I)Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why ^(J)put me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.^{[b] 20} And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹ They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, ^(K)“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” ²² When they heard it, they marveled. And they ^(L)left him and went away.