You will have to work hard and sweat a lot to produce the food you eat. You were made out of the ground. You will return to it when you die. You are dust, and you will return to dust.”
We didn’t eat anyone’s food without paying for it. In fact, it was just the opposite. We worked night and day. We worked very hard so that we wouldn’t cause any expense to any of you.We worked, even though we have the right to receive help from you. We did it in order to be a model for you to follow.Even when we were with you, we gave you a rule. We said,“ Anyone who won’t work shouldn’t be allowed to eat.”We hear that some people among you don’t want to work and are making trouble. They aren’t really busy. Instead, they are bothering others.We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we strongly command people like that to settle down. They have to earn the food they eat.
Anyone who has been stealing must never steal again. Instead, they must work. They must do something useful with their own hands. Then they will have something to give to people in need.
That evening an old man came into the city. He had been working in the fields. He was from the hill country of Ephraim. But he was living in Gibeah. The people who lived there were from the tribe of Benjamin.
