"If you live according to my laws and obey my commands,

I will send you rain at the right time, so that the land will produce crops and the trees will bear fruit.

Honor the LORD by making him an offering from the best of all that your land produces.

If you do, your barns will be filled with grain, and you will have too much wine to store it all.

Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit.

Put your investments in several places---many places even---because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world.

"My people, why should you be living in well-built houses while my Temple lies in ruins?

You have planted much grain, but have harvested very little. You have food to eat, but not enough to make you full. You have wine to drink, but not enough to get drunk on! You have clothing, but not enough to keep you warm. And workers cannot earn enough to live on.

"You hoped for large harvests, but they turned out to be small. And when you brought the harvest home, I blew it away. Why did I do that? Because my Temple lies in ruins while every one of you is busy working on your own house.

I have brought drought on the land---on its hills, grainfields, vineyards, and olive orchards---on every crop the ground produces, on people and animals, on everything you try to grow."

Today is the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day that the foundation of the Temple has been completed. See what is going to happen from now on.

Although there is no grain left, and the grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced, yet from now on I will bless you."

I ask you, is it right for a person to cheat God? Of course not, yet you are cheating me. 'How?' you ask. In the matter of tithes and offerings.

Bring the full amount of your tithes to the Temple, so that there will be plenty of food there. Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things.