Warning Against Idleness

Now we command you, brothers, (A)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (B)that you keep away from any (C)brother (D)who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know (E)how you ought to imitate us, because (F)we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but (G)with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was (H)not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves (I)an example to imitate.

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6-9 Our orders—backed up by the Master, Jesus—are to refuse to have anything to do with those among you who are lazy and refuse to work the way we taught you. Don’t permit them to freeload on the rest. We showed you how to pull your weight when we were with you, so get on with it. We didn’t sit around on our hands expecting others to take care of us. In fact, we worked our fingers to the bone, up half the night moonlighting so you wouldn’t be burdened with taking care of us. And it wasn’t because we didn’t have a right to your support; we did. We simply wanted to provide an example of diligence, hoping it would prove contagious.

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Warning Against Idleness

But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (A)that you withdraw (B)from every brother who walks (C)disorderly and not according to the tradition which [a]he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread [b]free of charge, but worked with (D)labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have (E)authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Thessalonians 3:6 NU, M they
  2. 2 Thessalonians 3:8 Lit. for nothing