2 Thessalonians 3:7-18

3:7 For you know yourselves how you must imitate us, because we did not behave without discipline ¹  among you, 3:8 and we did not eat anyone’s food without paying. ²  Instead, in toil and drudgery we worked ³  night and day in order not to burden any of you. 3:9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give ourselves as an example for you to imitate. ⁴  3:10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this command: “If anyone is not willing to work, neither should he eat.” 3:11 For we hear that some among you are living an undisciplined life, ⁵  not doing their own work but meddling in the work of others. ⁶  3:12 Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and so provide their own food to eat. ⁷  3:13 But you, brothers and sisters, ⁸  do not grow weary in doing what is right. 3:14 But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed. 3:15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. ⁹ 

Conclusion

3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with you all. 3:17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, which is how I write in every letter. ¹⁰  3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. ¹¹ 

¹ tn This is the verbal form of the words occurring in vv. 6 and 11, meaning “to act out of line, in an unruly way.”

² tn Grk “we did not eat bread freely from anyone.”

³ tn Grk “but working,” as a continuation of the previous sentence. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with the word “Instead” in the translation.

⁴ tn Grk “an example for you to imitate us.”

⁵ tn Grk “walking in an undisciplined way” (“walking” is a common NT idiom for one’s way of life or conduct).

⁶ tn There is a play on words in the Greek: “working at nothing, but working around,” “not keeping busy but being busybodies.”

⁷ tn Grk “that by working quietly they may eat their own bread.”

⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:3.

⁹ tn That is, as a fellow believer.

¹⁰ tn Grk “The greeting in my hand, Paul, which is a sign in every letter, thus I write.”

¹¹ tc Most witnesses, including some early and important ones (א² A D F G Ψ Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the witnesses for the omission are among the best mss (א* B 0278 6 33 1739 1881* 2464 sa), giving sufficient base to prefer the shorter reading.