2 Thessalonians 3:10 (DBY)

Passage

For also when we were with you we enjoined you this, that if any man does not like to work, neither let him eat.

Nearby Context

2 Thessalonians 3:8 nor have we eaten bread from any one without cost; but in toil and hardship working night and day not to be chargeable to any one of you:

2 Thessalonians 3:9 not that we have not the right, but that we might give ourselves as an example to you, in order to your imitating us.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 For also when we were with you we enjoined you this, that if any man does not like to work, neither let him eat.

2 Thessalonians 3:11 For we hear that [there are] some walking among you disorderly, not working at all, but busybodies.

2 Thessalonians 3:12 Now such we enjoin and exhort in [the] Lord Jesus Christ, that working quietly they eat their own bread.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "enjoined", "does", "like", and "neither". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "enjoined" and "does", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "not that we have not the right..." into verse 11's "For we hear that there are some...", so "enjoined" and "does" belong inside that flow. In 2 Thessalonians context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "enjoined" and "does" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.