The Gift and its Return
Luke 6:38
Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom…


The New Testament is full of the idea of a natural and necessary reciprocity between man and the things by which he is surrounded (Galatians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 9:6). The world seems to be a great field in which every man drops his seed, and which gives back to every man, not just the same thing which he dropped there, any more than the brown earth holds up to you in the autumn the same black berry which you hid under its bosom in the spring, but something which has its true correspondence and proportion to the seed to which it is the legitimate and natural reply. Every gift has its return, every act has its consequence, every call has its answer in this great live, alert world, where man stands central, and all things have their eyes on him and their ears open to his voice.

(Phillips Brooks, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Give, 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.

WEB: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you."




The Duty of Giving
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