³⁸ give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”^(A)

⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.^(A)

⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a bountiful gift and not as an extortion.

⁶ The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.^{(A) 7} Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.^{(B) 8} And God is able to provide you with every blessing^[a] in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.^{(C) 9} As it is written,

¹⁰ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.^{[c] 11} You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us,

⁶ You have sown much and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.^(A)

The Value of Diligence