Prayer with fasting and
alms with uprightness are better than riches with iniquity. Better to practice
almsgiving than to hoard up gold.
Though he amass silver like dust and gather
fine clothes like clay, 17 let him gather!-some good man will wear
them, while his silver is shared among the upright.
Had I put my trust in gold or called
fine gold my security; 25 or had I rejoiced
that my wealth was great, or that my hand had acquired abundance
***
28 This too would be a crime for
condemnation, for I should have denied God above.
What little the upright
possesses outweighs all the wealth of the wicked; 17 for the weapons of the
wicked shall be shattered, while Yahweh supports the upright.
I am not afraid in times of danger when
I am surrounded by enemies, 6 by evil
people who trust in their riches and boast of their great wealth. 7 We
can never redeem ourselves; we cannot
pay God the price for our lives, 8 because the
payment for a human life is too great. What we could pay would never be enough 9 to
keep us from the grave, to let us
live forever. 10 Anyone can see that even the wise die, as
well as the foolish and stupid. They all leave their riches to their
descendants.
Do not be overawed when someone gets rich, and
lives in ever greater splendor;17 when
he dies he will take nothing with him, his wealth will not
go down with him.
18 Though he pampered himself while he lived -- and
people praise you for looking after yourself- 19 he will go to join the ranks of his ancestors,
who will never again see the light.
So God will ruin you forever; he will
take hold of you and snatch you from your home; he will remove you from the
world of the living. 6 Righteous
people will see this and be afraid; then they will laugh at you and say, 7 “Look,
here is someone who did not depend on God for safety, but
trusted instead in great wealth and looked
for security in being wicked.” 8 But I am
like an olive tree growing in the house of God; I trust in his constant love
forever and ever.
Even if your riches increase, don't
depend on them. 11 More than once I have heard God say that
power belongs to him.
Riches do not profit in the day of
wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
Confidence placed in riches comes to
nothing.
Those who trust in their riches will
fall,
but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.
The ransom for life is a
person's wealth; but the poor will not hear the reproof.
Better to have little and
with it fear of Yahweh than immense wealth and with it anxiety.
17
Better a dish of herbs when love is there than a fattened ox and hatred to go
with it.
Better have little and
with it uprightness than great revenues with injustice.
Better be humble with the
poor than share the booty with the proud.
Better a mouthful of dry
bread with peace than a house filled with quarrelsome sacrifices.
Better the poor living an
honest life than the adept at double-talk who is a fool.
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do
not trust your own cleverness. 5 Cast but a
glance at riches, and they are gone, for they
will surely sprout wings and fly off
to the sky like an eagle.
Better someone poor living
an honest life than someone of devious ways however rich.
Keep falsehood and lies
far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches, grant me only my share of
food, 9
for fear that, surrounded by plenty, I should fall away and say, 'Yahweh-who is
Yahweh?' or else, in destitution, take to stealing and profane the name of my
God.
For here is one who has labored
wisely, skillfully and successfully and must leave what is his own to someone
who has not toiled for it at all. This is futile too, and grossly unjust; 22 for what does he gain for all the toil
and strain that he has undergone under the sun-23 since his days are full of sorrow, his
work is full of stress and even at night he has no peace of mind? This is
futile too.
Do not set your heart on your wealth,
nor say, “I have enough.”
Do not say, “I have enough, and what
calamity could happen to me in the future?”
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the
rich man glory in his riches; 24 but let him
who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord
who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in
these things I delight, says the Lord.”
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures
on earth, where moth and rust consume and
where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes
and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So do not worry; do not say,
"What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?" 32It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these
things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. 33Set
your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these
other things will be given you as well. 34So
do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself.
Jesus said to him, “If you would be
perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
And he told them a parable, saying, “The
land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 17 and
he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
18 And
he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and
there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And
I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take
your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said
to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have
prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is he who
lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Do not labor for the food which
perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man
will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.”
I have learnt to manage
with whatever I have.12 I know how to live modestly, and I know how to live luxuriously
too: in every way now I have mastered the secret of all conditions: full
stomach and empty stomach, plenty and poverty.13 There is nothing I cannot do in the One who strengthens me.
And now, you rich people, listen to me!
Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your
riches have rotted away, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. 3 Your
gold and silver are covered with rust, and this rust will be a witness against
you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these
last days. 4 You have not paid any wages to those who
work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather
in your crops have reached the ears of God, the Lord Almighty. 5 Your
life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made
yourselves fat for the day of slaughter. 6 You
have condemned and murdered innocent people, and they do not resist you.
You say to yourself: I am
rich, I have made a fortune and have everything I want, never realizing that
you are wretchedly and pitiably poor, and blind and naked too. 18 I warn you, buy from me
the gold that has been tested in the fire to make you truly rich, and white
robes to clothe you and hide your shameful nakedness, and ointment to put on
your eyes to enable you to see.
