What Does 2 Thessalonians 3:10 Mean in the King James?
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The hinge is unwillingness: the verse names refusal to work, not simply the fact of not working.
THE MEANING
The saying joins work and food: the one who refuses to work is also told not to eat. Its condition rests on willingness, so it speaks of refusal rather than of someone unable to work or kept from the chance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the reading that condemns anyone without work: the Greek names not willing to work, making refusal, not inability, the condition.
THE ROOT
οὐ θέλει
ou thelei
GROWS FROM
θελ-
thel-
to want, will, or be willing
The English “would not” can sound like a failure to do something, but the Greek centers what the person wills. This makes the dividing line refusal, not merely the fact that a person is not working.
ALSO GROWS
thelō: want, will, be willing
θέλω
The verb’s core sense makes willingness part of the condition.
thelēma: will, desire
θέλημα
This noun shows the same root naming what is willed, bringing the verse’s focus on choice into view.
ἐργάζεσθαι
ergazesthai
GROWS FROM
ἐργ-
erg-
work, active doing
This word belongs to a family that also names a deed and a worker, so work is concrete action with an actor and an outcome. Beside the verb for willing, the verse ties eating to participation rather than mere capacity.
ALSO GROWS
ergon: work, deed
ἔργον
The shared root links working with the tangible deed that results.
ergatēs: worker, laborer
ἐργάτης
This branch names the person engaged in the work, echoing the verse’s focus on whether someone is willing to work.
THE PATTERN
Work participates in life’s provision: it can sustain a person and make provision for others possible.
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.THE THREAD
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;This verse uses the same Greek work verb and echoes “as we commanded you.” It places work alongside quiet self-direction; the present verse makes unwillingness the hinge.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us