He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but the one who hates indebtedness is secure.

A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge and puts up security for his neighbor.

The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger, if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor. Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge with a stranger, if you have been trapped by the words of your lips, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself, for you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go, humble yourself, and press your plea with your neighbor. Allow no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. . . .

Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.

Do not be one who gives pledges, who puts up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?

A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Dishonest wealth will dwindle, but what is earned through hard work will be multiplied.

Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.

He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household, but he who hates bribes will live.

The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous are gracious and giving.

If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.

After David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.” And Nathan replied to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.” But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying, “Go and tell My servant David that this is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build Me a house in which to dwell. For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until this day, but I have moved from tent to tent and dwelling to dwelling. . . .

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. . . .

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,

What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy? . . .

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The blessing of the LORD enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it.

He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage.

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Differing weights and unequal measures—both are detestable to the LORD.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

A generous man will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.

Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter in soul. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence. For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city. Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving to the north and half to the south. You will flee by My mountain valley, for it will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him. . . .

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”

For they went out on behalf of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father. The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went from town to town, they delivered the decisions handed down by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. . . .

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.

Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

“Now these are the names of the tribes: At the northern frontier, Dan will have one portion bordering the road of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath and running on to Hazar-enan on the border of Damascus with Hamath to the north, and extending from the east side to the west side. Asher will have one portion bordering the territory of Dan from east to west. Naphtali will have one portion bordering the territory of Asher from east to west. Manasseh will have one portion bordering the territory of Naphtali from east to west. Ephraim will have one portion bordering the territory of Manasseh from east to west. . . .

and then have fallen away—to be restored to repentance, because they themselves are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to open shame.

Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD. Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the LORD. Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land. . . .

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’ . . .

And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

Once again, Jesus spoke to them in parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business. . . .

For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ . . .

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

Can I forget any longer, O house of the wicked, the treasures of wickedness and the short ephah, which is accursed? Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Riches may ransom a man’s life, but a poor man hears no threat.

He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who shows kindness to the poor.

There is profit in all labor, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the effort of fools is folly.

The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.

How much better to acquire wisdom than gold! To gain understanding is more desirable than silver.

A worker’s appetite works for him because his hunger drives him onward.

The LORD has made everything for His purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.

A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

An inheritance gained quickly will not be blessed in the end.

Unequal weights are detestable to the LORD, and dishonest scales are no good.

The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.

Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.

A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold.

A good name is more desirable than great riches; favor is better than silver and gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all. The prudent see danger and take cover, but the simple keep going and suffer the consequences. The rewards of humility and the fear of the LORD are wealth and honor and life. Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them. . . .

Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself or giving gifts to the rich will surely lead to poverty.

Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.

Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

A greedy man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper.

Whoever gives to the poor will not be in need, but he who hides his eyes will receive many curses.

The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. . . .

Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. The beast I saw was like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast appeared to be mortally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon who had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against it?” The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months. . . .

Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”