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,

Each one of you should give ¹  just as he has decided in his heart, ²  not reluctantly ³  or under compulsion, ⁴  because God loves a cheerful giver.

You are looking at outward appearances. ¹  If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we.

Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you ¹  through an empty, deceitful philosophy ²  that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits ³  of the world, and not according to Christ.

But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters ¹  loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning ²  for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

And have you forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons? “My son, do not scorn ¹  the Lord’s discipline or give up when he corrects ²  you.

For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” ¹  also said, “Do not murder.” ²  Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law.

So be patient, brothers and sisters, ¹  until the Lord’s return. ²  Think of how the farmer waits ³  for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient ⁴  for it until it receives the early and late rains.

Think of how we regard ¹  as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. ² 

Therefore, remember what you received and heard, ¹  and obey it, ²  and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never ³  know at what hour I will come against ⁴  you.

“Out of our way!” ¹  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, ²  and now he dares to judge us! ³  We’ll do more harm ⁴  to you than to them!” They kept ⁵  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough ⁶  to break down the door.

‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, ¹  “I am about to die. Bury me ²  in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’”

Why ¹  should the Egyptians say, ²  ‘For evil ³  he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy ⁴  them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent ⁵  of this evil against your people.

Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants ¹  like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about ²  I will give to your descendants, ³  and they will inherit it forever.’”

But Aaron spoke to Moses, “See here! ¹  Just today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord and such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten a sin offering today would the Lord have been pleased?” ² 

Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, ¹  to obey all his commandments, ²  to love him, to serve him ³  with all your mind and being, ⁴ 

Be careful lest you entertain the wicked thought that the seventh year, the year of cancellation of debts, has almost arrived, and your attitude ¹  be wrong toward your impoverished fellow Israelite ²  and you do not lend ³  him anything; he will cry out to the Lord against you and you will be regarded as having sinned. ⁴ 

Then when ¹  many disasters and distresses overcome them ²  this song will testify against them, ³  for their ⁴  descendants will not forget it. ⁵  I know the ⁶  intentions they have in mind ⁷  today, even before I bring them ⁸  to the land I have promised.”

When all the Amorite kings on the west side of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the seacoast heard how the Lord had dried up the water of the Jordan before the Israelites while they ¹  crossed, they lost their courage and could not even breathe for fear of the Israelites. ² 

But if your own land ¹  is impure, ²  cross over to the Lord’s own land, ³  where the Lord himself lives, ⁴  and settle down among us. ⁵  But don’t rebel against the Lord or us ⁶  by building for yourselves an altar aside from the altar of the Lord our God.