"Remember my laws and commands, and obey them. If you do these things, I will give you rains at the time they should come. The land will grow crops and the trees of the field will grow their fruit. Your threshing will continue until it is time to gather grapes. And your grape gathering will continue until it is time to plant. Then you will have plenty to eat. And you will live safely in your land. I will give peace to your country. You will lie down in peace. No one will come to make you afraid. I will keep harmful animals out of your country. And armies will not come through your country.

You will have enough crops to last for more than a year. You will harvest the new crops. But then you will have to throw out the old crops to make room for the new crops. Also, I will place my Holy Tent among you. I will not turn away from you. I will walk with you and be your God. And you will be my people.

Each one of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. You should not give if it makes you unhappy or if you feel forced to give. God loves those who are happy to give.  And God can give you more blessings than you need, and you will always have plenty of everything. You will have enough to give to every good work.  As the Scriptures say, "He gives generously to the poor; his goodness will continue forever."

God is the one who gives seed to those who plant, and he gives bread for food.  And God will give you spiritual seed and make that seed grow.  He will produce a great harvest from your goodness. God will make you rich in every way so that you can always give freely.  And your giving through us will make people give thanks to God. The service you are offering helps God's people with their needs, but that is not all it does. It is also bringing more and more thanks to God.

Later, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberias). A great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he did in healing the sick. Jesus went up on the side of the hill and sat there with his followers. It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover festival. Jesus looked up and saw a crowd of people coming toward him. He said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?"

He asked Philip this question to test him. Jesus already knew what he planned to do. Philip answered, "We would all have to work a month to buy enough bread for each person here to have only a little piece!" Another follower there was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew said, "Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that is not enough for so many people." Jesus said, "Tell everyone to sit down." This was a place with a lot of grass, and about 5000 men sat down there.

Jesus took the loaves of bread and gave thanks for them. Then he gave them to the people who were waiting to eat. He did the same with the fish. He gave them as much as they wanted. They all had plenty to eat. When they finished, Jesus said to his followers, "Gather the pieces of fish and bread that were not eaten. Don't waste anything." So they gathered up the pieces that were left. The people had started eating with only five loaves of barley bread. But the followers filled twelve large baskets with the pieces of food that were left.