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1 Thessalonians 2:9

For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
1 Thessalonians 2:9 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God.
  • BSB Surely you recall, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to anyone while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
  • NKJV For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
  • NASB For you recall, brothers and sisters, our labor and hardship: it was by working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, that we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
  • NLT Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Paul worked night and day so as not to burden them while he preached the gospel for free. He labored to remove any obstacle to the message.

Overview

Paul recalls his manual labor, working hard to support himself so the church would not have to provide for him. This self-support guarded the gospel from any charge of greed and showed his love in action. It also models a willingness to serve at personal cost so that nothing hinders the free offer of the good news.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 31

  • 2 Th 3:7–9For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
  • 2 Cor 11:9And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
  • Acts 18:3And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.
  • 2 Cor 12:13–14For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.
  • 1 Cor 9:6–7Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?
  • Neh 5:15But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
  • 1 Th 2:6Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.
  • 1 Cor 9:18What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
  • Acts 20:31Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
  • 2 Tim 1:3I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
  • 1 Tim 4:10For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
  • Neh 5:18Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.
  • 1 Tim 5:5Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
  • 1 Cor 9:15But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
  • 1 Th 1:3Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
  • Rom 15:19Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
  • 1 Th 3:10Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
  • Luke 18:7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
  • 1 Th 2:2But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.
  • Rom 15:16That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
  • Phil 4:16For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.
  • 1 Cor 4:12And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
  • Ps 32:4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
  • Jer 9:1Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
  • 2 Cor 6:5In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
  • Acts 20:34–35Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
  • Rom 1:1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
  • Luke 2:37And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
  • Ps 88:1O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
  • 1 Tim 1:11According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
  • Acts 20:24But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

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Christ at the center

The believer waits for God's Son from heaven, Jesus who delivers from the wrath to come and who will return to gather his people to himself.

How 1 Thessalonians 2:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

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