Passage

2 Thessalonians 3.6

Book: 2 Thessalonians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

4. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command. 5. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ.

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 they received of us.

For yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 8. neither did we eat bread for nought at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you: (2 Thessalonians 3:4-8, ASV)

WEB

4. We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you both do and will do the things we command. 5. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love, and into the perseverance of Christ.

6. Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.

For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, 8. neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you; (2 Thessalonians 3:4-8, WEB)

KJV

4. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. 5. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. ^{patient: or, patience of Christ}

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.

For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 8. 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: (2 Thessalonians 3:4-8, KJV)

YLT

4. and we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that the things that we command you ye both do and will do; 5. and the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God, and to the endurance of the Christ.

6. And we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every brother disorderly walking, and not after the deliverance that ye received from us,

for yourselves have known how it behoveth [you] to imitate us, because we did not act disorderly among you; 8. nor for nought did we eat bread of any one, but in labour and in travail, night and day working, not to be chargeable to any of you; (2 Thessalonians 3:4-8, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, turning to a disorder in the congregation.
Audience: The church at Thessalonica, capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and a free city on the Via Egnatia. Paul had planted the congregation only months earlier (Acts 17:1-9) and left the city under duress; the believers were still under local pressure, and had been unsettled by a report that the day of the Lord had already arrived (2:2).
Location: Most probably Corinth, where Silvanus and Timothy were with Paul (Acts 18:5), written shortly after 1 Thessalonians.
Time period: c. AD 50-52. The date is anchored by the Gallio inscription at Delphi, which places the proconsulship of Achaia held by Gallio (Acts 18:12) at roughly AD 51-52.

Theological reading

Ataktos, "disorderly." The adverb belongs to military vocabulary and describes a soldier out of rank or a line broken. It is not primarily a word for laziness, though it covers the conduct in view here; it describes someone who is out of formation with the community.

"Keep away from." The verb pictures drawing back or shortening sail. The instruction is a withdrawal of ordinary fellowship, and its purpose is stated at verse 14 and qualified at verse 15: the aim is shame that leads to change, and the person is still to be regarded as a brother, not an enemy.

"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul invokes the name for a matter of community discipline, which indicates how seriously he takes it. The disorder is not treated as a minor irritation.

"Not according to the tradition that they received from us." The measure is again apostolic teaching, as at 2:15. The problem is behaviour that departs from what was delivered, and the community's response is calibrated to that.

Connection to chapter 2. The two halves of the letter are usually related: if some had concluded that the day of the Lord had arrived, giving up ordinary work would follow naturally. Paul does not state that link explicitly, so it should be offered as a reasonable inference rather than as the text's own claim.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G3686 - onoma, onoma, Strong's G3686
G5547 - christos, christos, Strong's G5547
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios, Strong's G2962
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956

Quoted in

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.