Paul’s Final Instructions for the Thessalonians

3 Finally, brothers and sisters, pray that we spread the Lord’s word rapidly and that it will be honored the way it was among you. ² Also pray that we may be rescued from worthless and evil people, since not everyone shares our faith. ³ But the Lord is faithful and will strengthen you and protect you against the evil one.

⁴ The Lord gives us confidence that you are doing and will continue to do what we ordered you to do. ⁵ May the Lord direct your lives as you show God’s love and Christ’s endurance.

⁶ Brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we order you not to associate with any believer who doesn’t live a disciplined life and doesn’t follow the tradition you received from us. ⁷ You know what you must do to imitate us. We lived a disciplined life among you. ⁸ We didn’t eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, we worked hard and struggled night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you. ⁹ It’s not as though we didn’t have a right to receive support. Rather, we wanted to set an example for you to follow. ¹⁰ While we were with you, we gave you the order: “Whoever doesn’t want to work shouldn’t be allowed to eat.”

¹¹ We hear that some of you are not living disciplined lives. You’re not working, so you go around interfering in other people’s lives. ¹² We order and encourage such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to pay attention to their own work so they can support themselves. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, we can’t allow ourselves to get tired of doing what is right.