Alms: Commandments and Practices Concerning

Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and lay it up within your gates.

Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.

If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother. …

Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke?

Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. …

Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

But give as alms the things that are within you, and behold, everything will be clean for you.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

…if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you beforehand and make arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. This way, your gift will be prepared generously and not begrudgingly. …

They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,

And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?