2 Thessalonians 3:11
in 2 Thessalonians 3Yet we hear that some of you are leading undisciplined lives and accomplishing nothing but being busybodies.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies.
KJV
For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
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This verse in 2 Thessalonians 3
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThere are some other men going about, as they say, pretending only to devote themselves to prayer and doing no work, making piety a pretext for cowardice and a means of gaining a living, but not thinking rightly. Let them say that they are better even than the holy apostles who worked when opportunity gave them time for it, and they were exhausted for the word of God. How did they miss reading the holy Paul writing to certain people, "For I hear that some among you are living irregularly, doing no work but busy at meddling."
This site's exposition
neither should he eat
on 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12
The rule was standing teaching from the first visit: if any would not work, neither should he eat, and the would not carries the whole weight, refusal, not inability; the letters' own charity toward the genuinely needy stands untouched beside it. Verse 11 turns a Greek pun the English cannot keep, working not at all, but busybodies, ergazomenous and periergazomenous, working at nothing yet working around everything. The remedy is quietness, work, and their own bread, dignity restored through the hands.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies." This indeed he says here; but there, in the first Epistle, he says, "that ye may walk honestly towards them that are without." On what account? Perhaps there was as yet no such thing. For upon another occasion also admonishing, he says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." But the expression, "walk honestly" has no reference to disorder; wherefore he added, "that ye may have need of nothing." And here he sets down another necessity, for thus doing what was honorable and good towards all. (For as he proceeds, he says, "be not weary in well doing.") For certainly he that is idle and yet able to work must needs be a busybody. But alms are given to those only who are not able to support themselves by the work of their own hands, or who teach, and are wholly occupied in the business of teaching. "For thou shalt not muzzle the ox," he says, "when he treadeth out the corn." "And the laborer is worthy of his hire." So that neither is he idle, but receives the reward of work and great work too. But to pray and fast being idle, is not the work of the hands. For the work that he is here speaking of is the work of the hands. "That work not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ." Because he had touched them severely, wishing to render his discourse more mild, he adds, "through the Lord," again what is authoritative and fearful. "That with quietness," he says, "they work, and eat their own bread." For why has he not said, But if they are not disorderly let them be maintained by you; but requires both, that they be quiet, and that they work? "That they may eat their own bread," says he, not that of another.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Since our mind is in constant motion, when we do not occupy it with needful matters, it gives itself over to unseemly matters, as was said above, and begins to busy itself with prying into how others live, and from there passes into gossip, idle …
Then when he says "for we have heard," he says why this precept is necessary, for the Apostle says this not so much on the basis of a duty to teach as because of the people's fault. And so first, he sets out the sin …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Industry in our particular callings as men is a duty required of us by our general calling as Christians. Or perhaps the general charity there was then among Christians to their poor brethren encouraged some to live in idleness, as knowing the church would maintain them: whatever was the cause, they were much to blame.
For we hear that there are some,.... This is the reason of the order or command given in 2Th 3:6 for withdrawing from disorderly persons.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For we hear - It is not known in what way this was made known to Paul, whether by Timothy, or by some other one. He had no doubt of its truth, and he seems to have been prepared to believe it the more readily from what he saw when he was among them. Which walk disorderly - See the notes, 2Th 3:6. But are busy-bodies - Compare the 1Ti 5:13 note; 1Pe 4:15 note.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
busy bodies--In the Greek the similarity of sound marks the antithesis, "Doing none of their own business, yet overdoing in the business of others." Busy about everyone's business but their own. "Nature abhors a vacuum"; so if not doing one's own business, one is apt to meddle with his neighbor's business. Idleness is the parent of busybodies (1Ti 5:13).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
For we hear that there are some - It is very likely that St. Paul kept up some sort of correspondence with the Thessalonian Church; for he had heard every thing that concerned their state, and it was from this information that he wrote his second epistle. Disorderly - Ατακτως· Out of their rank - not keeping their own place. Working not at all - Either lounging at home, or becoming religious gossips; μηδεν εργαζομενους, doing nothing. Busybodies - Περιεργαζομενους· Doing every thing they should not do - impertinent meddlers with other people’s business; prying into other people’s circumstances and domestic affairs; magnifying or minifying, mistaking or underrating, every thing; newsmongers and telltales; an abominable race, the curse of every neighborhood where they live, and a pest to religious society. There is a fine paronomasia in the above words, and evidently intended by the apostle.
The words behind it
11 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ἀκούομεν | akouomen | We hear | G191 → | |
| γάρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| τινας | tinas | some | G5100 → | 528 times |
| περιπατοῦντας | peripatountas | are walking | G4043 → | |
| ἐν | en | among | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ὑμῖν | humin | you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἀτάκτως, | ataktos | idly, | G814 → | |
| μηδὲν | meden | not at all | G3367 → | |
| ἐργαζομένους | ergazomenous | working | G2038 → | 41 times |
| ἀλλὰ | alla | but | G235 → | 635 times |
| περιεργαζομένους.¶ | periergazomenous | being busybodies. | G4020 → |
ἈκούομενWe hear
akouomenG191 →
γάρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
τιναςsome
tinasG5100 →528 times
περιπατοῦνταςare walking
peripatountasG4043 →
ἐνamong
enG1722 →2738 times
ὑμῖνyou
huminG4771 →2973 times
ἀτάκτως,idly,
ataktosG814 →
μηδὲνnot at all
medenG3367 →
ἐργαζομένουςworking
ergazomenousG2038 →41 times
ἀλλὰbut
allaG235 →635 times
περιεργαζομένους.¶being busybodies.
periergazomenousG4020 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Thessalonians 4:11and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 4:6
Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.
- Ephesians 4:28
He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need.
- 1 Peter 3:4
but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.
- Titus 3:14
And our people must also learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet the pressing needs of others, so that they will not be unfruitful.
- Proverbs 17:1
Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.
- Ecclesiastes 4:6
Through
2 Thessalonians 3:6Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who leads an undisciplined life that is not in keeping with the tradition you received…
it leads to
- 2 Thessalonians 3:10–11
For even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.”
- 2 Thessalonians 3:7
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not undisciplined among you,
- Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:10–11
About 2 Thessalonians
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, LETTERS 83.7; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 2 Thessalonians 5; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians.