to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active indicative, 1st person plural
man’s
τινος,tinos
G5100
some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — genitive singular masculine
bread
ἄρτονarton
G740
bread (as raised) or a loaf · noun — accusative singular masculine
nought
δωρεὰνdōrean
G1432
gratuitously (literally or figuratively) · adverb
but
ἀλλ᾽all᾽
G235
properly · conjunction
wrought
ἐργαζόμενοιergazomenoi
G2038
to toil (as a task · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, nominative plural masculine
with
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
labour
κόπῳkopō
G2873
a cut · noun — dative singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
travail
μόχθῳmochthō
G3449
toil · noun — dative singular masculine
night
νυκτὸςnuktos
G3571
"night" (literally or figuratively) · noun — genitive singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
day
ἡμέραςhēmeras
G2250
day · noun — genitive singular feminine
that
πρὸςpros
G4314
a preposition of direction · preposition
might
ἐπιβαρῆσαίepibarēsai
G1912
to be heavy upon · verb — aorist active infinitive
not
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
to
ἐπιβαρέωepibaréō
G1912
to be heavy upon
any
τιναtina
G5100
some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — accusative singular masculine
you
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
1 Thessalonians 2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preac…
Acts 18:3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.
Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him…
1 Corinthians 4:12 And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
1 Thessalonians 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
Proverbs 31:27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
2 Thessalonians 3:12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
The apostle having commended their obedience for the time past, and mentioned his confidence in their obedience for the time to come, proceeds to give them commands and directions to some who were faulty, correcting some things that were amiss among them. Observe, The best society of Christians may have some faulty persons among them, and some things that ought to be reformed. Perfection is not to be found on this side heaven: but evil manners beget good laws; the disorders that Paul heard of as existing among the Thessalonians occasioned the good laws we find in these verses, which are of constant use to us, and all others whom they may concern. Observe,
I. That which was amiss among the Th…
eat any man's bread--Greek, "eat bread from any man," that is, live at anyone's expense. Contrast Th2 3:12, "eat THEIR OWN bread."
wrought-- (Act 20:34). In both Epistles they state they maintained themselves by labor; but in this second Epistle they do so in order to offer themselves herein as an example to the idle; whereas, in the first, their object in doing so is to vindicate themselves from all imputation of mercenary motives in preaching the Gospel (Th1 2:5, Th1 2:9) [EDMUNDS]. They preached gratuitously though they might have claimed maintenance from their converts.
labour and travail--"toil and hardship" (see on Th1 2:9).
night and day--scarcely allowing time for repose.
cha…
Neither did we eat any man's bread for naught - We paid for what we bought, and worked with our hands that we might have money to buy what was necessary.
Labour and travail night and day - We were incessantly employed, either in preaching the Gospel, visiting from house to house, or working at our calling. As it is very evident that the Church at Thessalonica was very pious, and most affectionately attached to the apostle, they must have been very poor, seeing he was obliged to work hard to gain himself the necessaries of life. Had they been able to support him he would not have worked with labor and travail night and day, that he might not be burdensome to them; and, as we may presume that…
The Church Fathers
For it would not be reprehensible if he received bread from those who provided spiritual nourishment to their souls, which also gave immortality with glory to their bodies. Then indeed freedom can be exercised, if one does not subject oneself to the stomach or money, content with one's own bread; especially since it is more beneficial to praise, if, when it is allowed, and there is the opportunity to take, one abstains: such a person can benefit the listeners; for they will have reverence for this strictness, and they cannot disregard the things that are commanded by him.
Let them imitate the Lord, who at the very time of His passion was not more proud, but more humble. For then He washed His disciples' feet, saying, "If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Let them also follow the example of the Apostle Paul, who, after often-repeated imprisonment, after scourging, after exposures to wild beasts, in everything continued meek and humble; and even after his rapture to the third heaven and paradise, he did not proudly arrogate anything to himself when he said, "Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you."
In this way we acquire a recollected spirit—when in every action we beg from God the success of our labors and satisfy our debt of gratitude to him who gave us the power to do the work, and when, as has been said, we keep before our minds the aim of pleasing him. If this is not the case, how can there be consistency in the words of the apostle bidding us to "pray without ceasing," with those other words: "we worked night and day"? Thanksgiving at all times has been commanded even from law and has been proved necessary to our life from both reason and nature. So we should not therefore be negligent in observing those times for prayer customarily established in communities—times which have inevitably been selected because each period contains a reminder peculiar to itself of blessings received from God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Philippians, Epistle to — Was written by Paul during the two years when he was “in bonds” in Rome (Phil. 1:7-13), probably early in the year A.D. 62 or in the end of 61. The Philippians had sent Epaphroditus, their messenger,…
Poor — The Mosaic legislation regarding the poor is specially important. (1.) They had the right of gleaning the fields (Lev. 19:9, 10; Deut. 24:19, 21). (2.) In the sabbatical year they were to have their…
Commandments · PRECEPTS OF PAUL. EXPLICITLY STATED OR IMPLIED IN DIDACTIC EPISTLES — PRECEPTS OF PAUL. EXPLICITLY STATED OR IMPLIED IN DIDACTIC EPISTLES
Example · PAUL, OUR — PAUL, OUR
Industry · .Paul — .Paul
Labor · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Unselfishness · .Paul — .Paul
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought.... Or freely, at free cost, without paying for it; he signifies, that what they ate, they bought with their own money, and lived on no man, without giving him a valuable consideration for what they had; though if they had not paid in money for their food, they would not have ate it for nought, since they laboured among them in preaching the Gospel to them; and such labourers are worthy of their maintenance, Luke 10:7 though the former sense is the apostle's here:
but wrought with labour and travail night and day: not only laboriously preaching the Gospel to them, as often as they could have opportunity, but working very hard and incessantly wit…
2 Thessalonians 3:6-10
6. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
6. Praecipimus autem vobis, fratres in nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi, ut vos subducatis ab omni fratre, qui inordinate ambulet, et non iuxta institutionem, quam accepit a nobis.
7. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
7. Ipsi enim scitis, quomodo oporteat nos imitari, quia non inordinate egimus inter vos:
8. Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, tha…
without paying for it: Although Paul taught that workers in the Christian church could receive pay for their labor (3:9; see Matt 10:10; 1 Cor 9:7-14; 1 Tim 5:17-18), he did not take advantage of that privilege (1 Thes 2:9; 2 Thes 3:6-10).
