¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work.^(A)

Slaves and Masters

⁵ Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect^[a] and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ,^{(A) 6} not with a slavery performed merely for looks, to please people, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul. ⁷ Render service with enthusiasm, as for the Lord and not for humans, ⁸ knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are enslaved or free.

⁹ And, masters,^[b] do the same to them. Stop threatening them, for you know that both of you have the same Lord^[c] in heaven, and with him there is no partiality.^(B)

Warning against Idleness

⁶ Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister living irresponsibly and not according to the tradition that they^[a] received from us.^{(A) 7} For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not irresponsible when we were with you,^{(B) 8} and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you.^{(C) 9} This was not because we do not have that right but in order to give you an example to imitate.^{(D) 10} For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: anyone unwilling to work should not eat. ¹¹ For we hear that some of you are living irresponsibly, mere busybodies, not doing any work.^{(E) 12} Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.^{(F) 13} Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.