2 Thessalonians 3 : Easy-to-Read Version
Pray for Us
3 1And now, brothers [and sisters], pray for us. Pray that the Lord's teaching will continue to spread quickly. And pray that people will give honor to that teaching, the same as happened with you. 2And pray that we will be protected from bad and evil people. (Not all people believe [in the Lord].) 3But the Lord is faithful. He will give you strength and protect you from the Evil One (the devil). 4The Lord makes us feel sure that you are doing the things we told you. And we know that you will continue to do those things. 5We pray that the Lord will lead your hearts into God's love and Christ's patience.
The Obligation to Work
6Brothers [and sisters], by the authority (power) of our Lord Jesus Christ we command you to stay away from any believer who refuses to work. People who refuse to work are not following the teaching that we gave them. 7You yourselves know that you should live like we live. We were not lazy when we were with you. 8And when we ate another person's food, we always paid for it. We worked and worked so that we would not be trouble to any of you. We worked night and day. 9We had the right [to ask you to help us]. But [we worked to take care of ourselves] so that we would be an example for you to follow. 10When we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a person will not work, then he will not eat." 11We hear that some people in your group refuse to work. They do nothing. And they make themselves busy in other people's lives. 12We command those people to stop bothering other people. We command them to work and earn their own food. In the Lord Jesus Christ we beg them to do this. 13Brothers [and sisters], never become tired of doing good. 14If any person does not obey what we tell you in this letter, then remember who that person is. Don't associate with that person. Then maybe that person will feel ashamed. 15But don't treat him like an enemy--warn him like a brother.
Final Words
16We pray that the Lord of peace will give you peace. We pray that he will give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. 17I am Paul, and I end this letter now with my own writing. All my letters have this to show they are from me. This is the way I write. 18The grace (kindness) of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.