6. "I the LORD do not
change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
7. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my
decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,"
says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, `How are we to return?'
8. "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do
we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings.
9. You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing
me.
10. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food
in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and
see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so
much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
11. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your
fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty.
12. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be
a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
42. "Woe to you Pharisees,
because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of
garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should
have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
6. Remember this: Whoever
sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will
also reap generously.
7. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things
at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good
work.
9. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."
10. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also
supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of
your righteousness.
11. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on
every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving
to God.