By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
and we did not eat anyone’s food without paying. Instead, in toil and drudgery we worked night and day in order not to burden any of you.It was not because we do not have that right, but to give ourselves as an example for you to imitate.For even when we were with you, we used to give you this command:“ If anyone is not willing to work, neither should he eat.”For we hear that some among you are living an undisciplined life, not doing their own work but meddling in the work of others.Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and so provide their own food to eat.
The one who steals must steal no longer; rather he must labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.
But then an old man passed by, returning at the end of the day from his work in the field. The man was from the Ephraimite hill country; he was living temporarily in Gibeah.( The residents of the town were Benjaminites.)
