So here is my opinion on this matter: It is to your advantage, since you ¹  made a good start last year both in your giving and your desire to give,

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. ¹  Let them do this ²  with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.

They lament, ¹  ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast? Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’ Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, ²  you oppress your workers. ³ 

refrains from wrongdoing, ¹  does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; ²  he will surely live.

You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. ¹  You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. ²  I am the Lord.

Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land ¹  will not produce their fruit.

Kings came, they fought; the kings of Canaan fought, at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, ¹  but ²  they took no silver as plunder.

besides what he collected from the merchants ¹  and traders. All the Arabian kings and the governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

Is it good for you ¹  to oppress, ²  to ³  despise the work of your hands, while ⁴  you smile ⁵  on the schemes of the wicked?

Would it turn out well if he would examine ¹  you? Or as one deceives ²  a man would you deceive him?

Is it of any special benefit ¹  to the Almighty that you should be righteous, or is it any gain to him that you make your ways blameless? ² 

Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression! ¹  Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery! ²  If wealth increases, do not become attached to it! ³ 

Give instruction ¹  to a wise person, ²  and he will become wiser still; teach ³  a righteous person and he will add to his ⁴  learning.

The one who oppresses the poor to increase his own gain and the one who gives to the rich ¹  – both end up only in poverty.

The prince who is a great oppressor lacks wisdom, ¹  but the one who hates ²  unjust gain will prolong his days.

If an iron axhead ¹  is blunt and a workman ²  does not sharpen ³  its edge, ⁴  he must exert a great deal of effort; ⁵  so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression. ¹ 

“You who live along the rivers of Babylon, ¹  the time of your end has come. You who are rich in plundered treasure, it is time for your lives to be cut off. ² 

No! ¹  It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything?

Indeed! If it was not made into anything useful when it was whole, how much less can it be made into anything when the fire has burned it up and it is charred?