¹ In conclusion, friends, pray for us — pray that the Lord’s message may spread rapidly, and be received everywhere with honor, as it was among you;

² and that we may be preserved from wrong-headed and wicked people — for it is not everyone who believes in Christ.

³ But the Lord will not fail you; he will give you strength, and guard you from evil.

⁴ Yes, and the confidence that our union with the Lord enables us to place in you leads us to believe that you are doing, and will do, what we direct you.

⁵ May the Lord bring you to the love of God, and to the patience of the Christ.

⁶ We beg you, friends, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to avoid any follower who is living an ill-ordered life, which is not in agreement with the teaching that you received from us.

⁷ For you know well that you ought to follow our example. When we were with you, our life was not ill-ordered,

⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it. Night and day, laboring and toiling, we used to work at our trades, so as not to be a burden on any of you.

⁹ This was not because we had not a right to receive support, but our object was to give you a pattern for you to copy.

¹⁰ Indeed, when we were with you, the rule we laid down was — ‘Whoever does not choose to work will not get to eat.’

¹¹ We hear that there are among you people who are living ill-ordered lives, and who, instead of attending to their own business, are mere busybodies.

¹² All such people we beg, and implore,, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to attend quietly to their business, and earn their own living.

¹³ You, friends, must not grow weary of doing what is right.

¹⁴ If anyone disregards what we have said in this letter, take note of them and avoid their company, so that they may feel ashamed.

¹⁵ Yet do not think of them as an enemy, but caution them as you would a brother or sister.

¹⁶ May the Lord, from whom all peace comes, himself give you his peace at all times and in all ways. May he be with you all.

¹⁷ I, Paul, add this greeting in my own handwriting. It is my signature to every letter. This is how I write.

¹⁸ May the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.