15 Then he said to the whole crowd, "Guard yourselves very carefully, in order that you do not desire other people’s things in any way! No one can make his life secure by obtaining many possessions."

21 Remember that the things that you think are the most valuable are the things that you will be constantly concerned about [MET]. So if you want to be storing treasures in heaven, you need to be constantly thinking about God and heaven, instead of your earthly possessions."

21 His boss replied, ‘You are a very good and faithful servant! You have done very well! You have faithfully handled a small amount of money, so I will put you in charge of a lot of things. Come and be happy with me!’

5 because as soon as you look [MTY] at all the money that you have acquired, it will be gone;

it will disappear as if it suddenly grew wings [SIM]

and flew up into the sky like an eagle.

4 Do not cause yourself to become very tired by working very hard to become rich;

be wise and stop doing that,

10 Everyone who tries to get as much money as they can

will never think that they have enough.

They will never be satisfied with the money that they have.

That also is senseless.

9 Honor Yahweh by what you do with your money;

and by giving him the first part of your harvest.

22 Yahweh blesses some people by enabling them to become rich,

and working hard will not make them to become richer (OR, and he will not also cause them to become sad).

2 Money that you get by doing dishonest/wicked things will really not benefit you;

but by living righteously you will live for ◄a long time/many years►.

11 Those who acquire a lot of money quickly by doing what is wrong, probably will lose it quickly,

but if people earn money slowly, the amount of money they have will increase.

16 Becoming wise is better than aquiring gold;

getting good understanding/insight is better than acquiring silver.

1 ◄Having a good reputation/Being honored by people► is better than having a lot of money;

being well respected is better than having plenty of gold or silver [DOU].

16 Being poor and revering Yahweh

is better than being rich and having a lot of troubles.

22 People want others to be loyal to them;

it is better to be poor than to tell a lie to a judge in court in order to get money.

8 Help me never to lie or deceive people

and do not cause me to become poor or to become rich.

Just give me the food that I need;

9 But some people strongly desire to be rich. As a result, they do wrong things to get money, and this will cause them to be caught/trapped [MET] as animals get caught in traps. They foolishly desire many things, and those desires cause them to get hurt. And God will completely reject them!

17 Tell the believers who are rich here in this present world that they should not be proud, and that they should not trust in their many possessions, because they cannot be certain how long they will have them. Teach them that instead of trusting in their wealth, they should trust in God. He is the one who generously gives us everything we have in order that we may enjoy it.

5 Live without constantly coveting money, and be content with the things you possess, remembering what Moses wrote that God has said about supplying what you need,

I will never leave you,

I will never stop providing for you [DOU].

4 Your money will not help you on the day that God judges and punishes people;

but if you live righteously, you will live a long time.

11 Rich people are protected because they have a lot of money [PRS]

like a city is protected because it has a high wall surrounding it [SIM].

14 But my people and I are not really able to give anything to you,

because everything that we have comes from you,

and what we have given to you are only the things that we have received from you [MTY].

7 Give to all the officials what you are supposed to give to them! Pay taxes to those who require that you pay taxes. Pay duties on goods to those who require that you pay those duties. Respect those who ought to be respected. Honor those who ought to be honored.

6 It is for this reason that you also pay taxes, because the officials are ones who serve God as they continually do their work.

16 It is good to be righteous/godly even if you do not have many possessions,

but it is bad to be wicked, even if you are very wealthy,

17 because Yahweh will completely take away the strength of wicked people,

but he will ◄sustain/take care of► people who live righteously.

14 I like to obey ◄your requirements/what you have instructed us to do►;

I enjoy that more than being very rich.