Bible Verses About Liberality

Guard yourself against allowing your heart to entertain the mean-spirited thought that because the seventh year, the year of sh'mittah is at hand, you would be stingy toward your needy brother and not give him anything; for then he may cry out to ADONAI against you, and it will be your sin.

Rather, you must give to him; and you are not to be grudging when you give to him. If you do this, ADONAI your God will bless you in all your work, in everything you undertake -

for there will always be poor people in the land. That is why I am giving you this order, 'You must open your hand to your poor and needy brother in your land.'

"If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, he is to serve you for six years; but in the seventh year, you are to set him free.

Moreover, when you set him free, don't let him leave empty-handed;

but supply him generously from your flock, threshing-floor and winepress; from what ADONAI your God has blessed you with, you are to give to him.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and ADONAI your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this order today.

But if he says to you, 'I don't want to leave you,' because he loves you and your household, and because his life with you is a good one;

then take an awl, and pierce his ear through, right into the door; and he will be your slave forever. Do the same with your female slave.

Don't resent it when you set him free, since during his six years of service he has been worth twice as much as a hired employee. Then ADONAI your God will bless you in everything you do.

The cohanim, who are L'vi'im, and indeed the whole tribe of Levi, is not to have a share or an inheritance with Isra'el. Instead, their support will come from the food offered by fire to ADONAI and from whatever else becomes his.

They will have no inheritance with their brothers, because ADONAI is their inheritance - as he has said to them.

"The cohanim will have the right to receive from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether ox or sheep, the shoulder, the jowls and the stomach.

You will also give him the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep.

For ADONAI your God has chosen him from all your tribes to stand and serve in the name of ADONAI, him and his sons forever.

"If a Levi from one of your towns anywhere in Isra'el where he is living comes, highly motivated, to the place which ADONAI will choose,

then he will serve there in the name of ADONAI his God, just like his kinsmen the L'vi'im who stand and serve in the presence of ADONAI.

Such a Levi will receive the same share as they do, in addition to what he may receive from selling his inherited ancestral property.

"When harvesting the grain in your field, if you forgot a sheaf of grain there, you are not to go back and get it; it will remain there for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that ADONAI your God will bless you in all the work you do.

When you beat your olive tree, you are not to go back over the branches again; the olives that are left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you are not to return and pick grapes a second time; what is left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

"Here is what Koresh king of Persia says: ADONAI, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms on earth; and he has charged me to build him a house in Yerushalayim, in Y'hudah.

Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him! He may go up to Yerushalayim, in Y'hudah, and build the house of ADONAI the God of Isra'el, the God who is in Yerushalayim.

Let every survivor, no matter where he lives, be helped by his neighbors with silver, gold, goods and animals, in addition to the voluntary offering for the house of God in Yerushalayim."