Godly Wisdom for Your Finances

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²⁷ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable —
how much more so when brought with evil intent!

²⁸ A false witness will perish,
but a careful listener will testify successfully.

²⁹ The wicked put up a bold front,
but the upright give thought to their ways.

³⁰ There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
that can succeed against the Lord.

³¹ The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but victory rests with the Lord.

22 A good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

² Rich and poor have this in common:
The Lord is the Maker of them all.

³ The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.

⁴ Humility is the fear of the Lord;
its wages are riches and honour and life.

⁵ In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls,
but those who would preserve their life stay far from them.

⁶ Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

The Collection for the Lord’s People

8 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. ² In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. ³ For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, ⁴ they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. ⁵ And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. ⁶ So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. ⁷ But since you excel in everything —in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

⁸ I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

¹⁰ And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. ¹¹ Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. ¹² For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

¹³ Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. ¹⁴ At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, ¹⁵ as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”

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¹¹ This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹² “Do not call conspiracy
   everything this people calls a conspiracy;
   do not fear what they fear,
   and do not dread it.
¹³ The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
   he is the one you are to fear,
   he is the one you are to dread.
¹⁴ He will be a holy place;
   for both Israel and Judah he will be
   a stone that causes people to stumble
   and a rock that makes them fall.
   And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
   a trap and a snare.
¹⁵ Many of them will stumble;
   they will fall and be broken,
   they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶ Bind up this testimony of warning
   and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.
¹⁷ I will wait for the Lord,
   who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.
   I will put my trust in him.

¹⁸ Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

The Darkness Turns to Light

¹⁹ When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

9 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

² The people walking in darkness
   have seen a great light;
   on those living in the land of deep darkness
   a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
   and increased their joy;
   they rejoice before you
   as people rejoice at the harvest,
   as warriors rejoice
   when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
   you have shattered
   the yoke that burdens them,
   the bar across their shoulders,
   the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
   and every garment rolled in blood
   will be destined for burning,
   will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
   And he will be called
   Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
   He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
   establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
   The zeal of the Lord Almighty
   will accomplish this.

The Lord’s Anger Against Israel

⁸ The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;
   it will fall on Israel.
⁹ All the people will know it—
   Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria —
   who say with pride
   and arrogance of heart,
¹⁰ “The bricks have fallen down,
   but we will rebuild with dressed stone;
   the fig trees have been felled,
   but we will replace them with cedars. ”
¹¹ But the Lord has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them
   and has spurred their enemies on.
¹² Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west
   have devoured Israel with open mouth.

   Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
   his hand is still upraised.

¹³ But the people have not returned to him who struck them,
   nor have they sought the Lord Almighty.
¹⁴ So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail,
   both palm branch and reed in a single day;
¹⁵ the elders and dignitaries are the head,
   the prophets who teach lies are the tail.
¹⁶ Those who guide this people mislead them,
   and those who are guided are led astray.
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,
   nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,
   for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
   every mouth speaks folly.

   Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
   his hand is still upraised.

¹⁸ Surely wickedness burns like a fire;
   it consumes briers and thorns,
   it sets the forest thickets ablaze,
   so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹ By the wrath of the Lord Almighty
   the land will be scorched
   and the people will be fuel for the fire;
   they will not spare one another.
²⁰ On the right they will devour,
   but still be hungry;
   on the left they will eat,
   but not be satisfied.
   Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring:
²¹ Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;
   together they will turn against Judah.

   Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
   his hand is still upraised.

10 Woe to those who make unjust laws,
   to those who issue oppressive decrees,
² to deprive the poor of their rights
   and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
   making widows their prey
   and robbing the fatherless.
³ What will you do on the day of reckoning,
   when disaster comes from afar?
   To whom will you run for help?
   Where will you leave your riches?
⁴ Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
   or fall among the slain.

   Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
   his hand is still upraised.

God’s Judgment on Assyria

⁵ “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,
   in whose hand is the club of my wrath!
⁶ I send him against a godless nation,
   I dispatch him against a people who anger me,
   to seize loot and snatch plunder,
   and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
⁷ But this is not what he intends,
   this is not what he has in mind;
   his purpose is to destroy,
   to put an end to many nations.
⁸ ‘Are not my commanders all kings?’ he says.
⁹ ‘Has not Kalno fared like Carchemish?
   Is not Hamath like Arpad,
   and Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰ As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,
   kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—
¹¹ shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images
   as I dealt with Samaria and her idols? ’”

¹² When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. ¹³ For he says:

   “‘By the strength of my hand I have done this,
   and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.
   I removed the boundaries of nations,
   I plundered their treasures;
   like a mighty one I subdued their kings.
¹⁴ As one reaches into a nest,
   so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;
   as people gather abandoned eggs,
   so I gathered all the countries;
   not one flapped a wing,
   or opened its mouth to chirp. ’”

¹⁵ Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it,
   or the saw boast against the one who uses it?
   As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,
   or a club brandish the one who is not wood!
¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
   will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;
   under his pomp a fire will be kindled
   like a blazing flame.
¹⁷ The Light of Israel will become a fire,
   their Holy One a flame;
   in a single day it will burn and consume
   his thorns and his briers.
¹⁸ The splendour of his forests and fertile fields
   it will completely destroy,
   as when a sick person wastes away.
¹⁹ And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few
   that a child could write them down.