1 And now, brothers, pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s teaching will continue to spread quickly. And pray that people will give honor to that teaching, just as happened with you.
2 And pray that we will be protected from bad and evil people. (Not all people believe in the Lord.)
3 But the Lord is faithful. He will give you strength and protect you from the Evil One.
4 The 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.
5 We pray that the Lord will lead your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s patience.
6 Brothers, by the authority 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.
7 You yourselves know that you should live as we live. We were not lazy when we were with you.
8 And when we ate another person’s food, we always paid for it. We worked and worked so that we would not be a trouble to any of you. We worked night and day.
9 We 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.
10 When we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If anyone will not work, he will not eat.”
11 We hear that some people in your group refuse to work. They do nothing. And they busy themselves in other people’s lives.
12 We command those people to work quietly and earn their own food. In the Lord Jesus Christ we beg them to do this.
13 Brothers, never become tired of doing good.
14 If anyone does not obey what we tell you in this letter, then remember who he is. Do not associate with him. Then maybe he will feel ashamed.
15 But do not treat him as an enemy. Warn him as a brother.
16 We pray that the Lord of peace will give you peace at all times and in every way. May the Lord be with all of you.
17 I am Paul, and I end this letter now in my own handwriting. All my letters have this to show they are from me. This is the way I write.