23 Whatever work you do, work wholeheartedly. Work wholeheartedly, like those who are working for the Lord Jesus. Do not work like those who are working merely for their masters,

23 Whatever work you do, work wholeheartedly. Work wholeheartedly, like those who are working for the Lord Jesus. Do not work like those who are working merely for their masters, 24 because you know that it is the Lord who will properly/justly repay you. That is, you will receive what God has promised. Remember that it is Christ who is the real master whom you are serving.

17 Whatever you say, and whatever you do, do all of this in the manner that those who are representatives [MTY] of the Lord Jesus should do, while you constantly thank God, our Father, as you ask the Lord Jesus to take your prayers to God.

7 Serve your masters zealously/wholeheartedly, as you would serve the Lord Jesus, not as you would serve ordinary people. 8 Do this because you know that some day the Lord Jesus will reward each person for whatever good deeds that person has done. He will reward people who are slaves and people who are not slaves.

31 So I say to you in conclusion, when you eat food, or drink something, or do anything else, do everything in order that people will praise God.

58 So, my fellow believers whom I love, continue to hold strongly to the things that you believe. Do not let anything cause you to doubt them. Always be doing enthusiastically the work that the Lord gives you. And remember that the work that you do for the Lord is never ◄in vain/useless►, as it would be if God will not cause us to live again after we die.

14 Act in a loving way in everything that you do.

4 Lazy people soon become poor;

it is those who work hard who become rich.

24 Those [SYN] who work hard become rulers of others;

those who are lazy become slaves of others.

24 Those [SYN] who work hard become rulers of others;

those who are lazy become slaves of others.

23 If you work hard, you will ◄accomplish something good/get a good income►,

but if all you do is to talk and not work, you will remain poor.

6 You lazy individual, learn something from watching the ants.

Become wise from observing what they do.

7 They do not have a king or a governor or any other person who rules them and forces them to work,

8 but they work hard all during the summer,

gathering and storing food to eat during the winter.

9 But, you lazy loafer, how long will you continue to sleep [RHQ]?

Are you never going to get up from sleeping and go to work?

10 You sleep a for a little time; you say, "I will take just a short nap."

You lie down and fold/lay your hands across your chest and rest;

11 and suddenly you will become poor.

It will be as though a bandit suddenly comes and takes all that you have.

9 People who are lazy while they work

are just as bad as [IDM] those who destroy things.

13 If you want to sleep all the time, you will become poor;

if you stay awake and work, you will have plenty of food.

11 Those who acquire a lot of money quickly by doing what is wrong, probably will lose it quickly,

but if people earn money slowly, the amount of money they have will increase.

22 Yahweh blesses some people by enabling them to become rich,

and working hard will not make them to become richer (OR, and he will not also cause them to become sad).

3 ◄Request/Rely on► Yahweh to direct what you plan to do;

if you do that, you will succeed in what you plan.

3 ◄Request/Rely on► Yahweh to direct what you plan to do;

if you do that, you will succeed in what you plan.

29 Know/Learn [RHQ] this about those who do their work very skillfully:

They will quit working for ordinary people

and will start working for kings

because the kings will want people like that to work for them.

15 ◄Do your best/Try hard► to be the kind of person that God will approve of. Be like a good worker as you teach the true message accurately. If a worker works well, he will not need to be ashamed of (OR, will be pleased about) what he does.

15 ◄Do your best/Try hard► to be the kind of person that God will approve of. Be like a good worker as you teach the true message accurately. If a worker works well, he will not need to be ashamed of (OR, will be pleased about) what he does.

16 God ◄inspired/put into men’s minds► everything that is written in the Scriptures {they wrote in the holy writings}, and those writings are all useful to teach us what is true, to cause us to know when we are wrong and then ◄to correct us/to show us what we have done that is wrong►, and to train/teach us to do what is right. 17 What is written {they wrote} is useful to help us who serve God to be ready/prepared to do all that we should do. By means of it, we are equipped {God gives us what we need} in order to do every kind of good deeds.

10 Whatever you are able to do, do it with all your energy, because some time you will die, and in the place of the dead where you are going, no one works or plans to do anything or knows anything or is wise.

14 Do everything God or your leaders ask you to do. Never complain about what they want you to do, or argue with them. 15 Behave like that in order that you may be completely faultless [DOU] and may be perfect children of God [DOU] while you live in the midst of people who are wicked and do very wicked things [DOU]. As you live among them, show them clearly [MET] the way they ought to behave, just like the sun, moon, and stars show the road clearly to us [SIM].

12 I know that the best [LIT] thing for us people to do is to rejoice and to do good things all during the time that we are alive. 13 And I also know that everyone should eat and drink, and enjoy the work that they do. Those are things that God gives to us.

18 So, the best thing for people to do here on the earth during the few years that God allows them to be alive is to eat and drink and to enjoy their work, because those are the things that God has given to them.

19 If people are rich and have a lot of possessions, and are able to ◄enjoy/be happy with► the things that they have and to enjoy their work, those things are also gifts from God.

9 Having someone work with you is better than being by yourself all the time.

If you have a friend, he can help you to do your work.

8 There are men who live alone;

they do not have a wife or children or any brothers living with them;

every day they work very hard, without stopping, to get a lot of money,

but they are never satisfied with the things that they have.

They never ask themselves,

"Why am I working very hard to earn more money?

Why am I not doing things that would cause me to be happy?"

What they do also seems senseless.

4 I also thought about all the hard work that people do and the skills that they have. And I thought about how they compete with each other because they are envious of others, and I concluded that this also is something that is not accomplishing anything useful, like chasing the wind.

10 Remember that when we were there with you, we kept commanding you that if any fellow believer refuses to work, you should not give him food to eat. 11 We are commanding the same thing again now, because someone has told us that some of you are lazy and not working at all, just interfering with what other people are doing!

12 We command those fellow believers who are not working, and urge them by the authority [MTY] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they settle down and ◄support themselves by working/work to earn money to buy what they need►.

11 We urge you also to eagerly strive/try to mind your own affairs and to not meddle/interfere with the affairs of others. We urge you also to work at your own occupations/jobs to earn what you need to live. Remember that we taught you previously to live like that. 12 If you do these things, unbelievers will acknowledge/see that you behave decently/properly, and you will not have to depend on others to ◄supply/give to you► what you need.

28 Those who have been stealing must not steal any longer. Instead, they should work hard to earn ◄their living/what they need► ◄by their own efforts/by what they do themselves► [MTY], in order that they may have something to give to those who are needy.

8 Moreover, God can enable you to give to others cheerfully. If you give that way, God will in return give you many good blessings. He will do that so that at all times you will always have everything that you need. Indeed, you will have even more than you need. As a result, you will be able to do many more good things to help others.

9 So, just like God rested on the seventh day after he finished making everything, there remains a time when God’s people will rest eternally. 10 Specifically, whoever enters God’s place of resting has ceased doing things to gain God’s favor, just like God ceased doing his work of creating everything.

17 Lord, our God, give us your blessings

and enable us to be successful;

yes, cause us to be successful in everything that we do [DOU]!

26 Look at the birds. They do not plant seeds, and they do not harvest crops and gather them into barns. But they always have food to eat because God, your Father who is in heaven, provides food for them. And you are certainly worth a lot more than birds [RHQ]! So you can be assured that God will supply what you need!

13 If you ◄are eager/try very hard► to do good things, most people will not harm you. [RHQ]

12 Listen to this carefully: You who trust in me will do the kinds of miracles that I have done. Because of what I will do for you (OR, Because I will send God’s Spirit to you) after I go to my Father, you will be able to do miracles that will be greater than the ones I have done.

24 But I do not care even if people kill me, if first I am able to finish the work [MET] that the Lord Jesus has told me to do. He appointed me to tell people the good message that God saves us by doing for us what we do not deserve.

8 So be sure that you do not let those teachers deceive you! If you let them deceive you, you will lose the reward which we, together with you, have been working for, and you will not receive the complete reward of being eternally united to God!