Proverbs 19:17 makes a claim that would have sounded reckless: giving to the poor is lending to the Lord, and he will repay it. The transaction is reframed entirely. The poor person is not the recipient in that sentence.
Paul is careful about the manner rather than the amount. Not grudgingly, not of necessity — God loveth a cheerful giver. The Greek behind cheerful is where we get hilarious. Reluctant generosity is treated as a different thing altogether.
The sharpest line belongs to John: if you have this world's good and see your brother in need and shut up your compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in you? It is a question, and it is not rhetorical in a comfortable way.
The verses
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Proverbs 19:17He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
Open → 2 Corinthians 9:7Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
Open → Acts 20:35I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Open → Luke 6:38Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Open → Deuteronomy 15:11For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
Open → Proverbs 22:9He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
Open → Proverbs 28:27He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.
Open → 1 John 3:17But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
Open → Matthew 25:40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Open → James 1:27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Open → Search this and more on FirstVerseOpen Matthew 25:40 on FirstVerse and read the passage around it. The verse is the conclusion of a much longer scene.
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Scripture: King James Version, public domain. Last updated August 15, 2026.