2 Thessalonians 3:11
“For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Paul has heard that some among them are living in idleness, doing no work at all but meddling in others' affairs.
What Does 2 Thessalonians 3:11 Mean?
Paul names the actual situation he has heard about: some in the church "walk among you disorderly, working not at all." These are not the unable but the unwilling, refusing honest labor. And idleness, Paul notes, rarely stays neutral; those "working not at all" had become "busybodies," meddling in the affairs of others.
There is a clever wordplay in the original, something like "not busy at work, but busybodies." The point is sharp: energy that should go into useful labor, when left unspent, spills out into interfering with everyone else. Idleness is not merely the absence of work; it actively breeds trouble. The verse exposes a common human pattern, where those who neglect their own responsibilities often become preoccupied with everyone else's. Paul will not let the church romanticize idleness. It harms the idle, burdens others, and disturbs the peace of the whole community.
In the Original Language
periergazomai (περιεργάζομαι), "busybodies" — to be busy about useless things, to meddle in matters that are not one's own.