Well, you can recall now what it is that restrains him from being revealed before his appointed time.

Now we are bound always to thank God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you as the first to be reaped for salvation, by the consecration of your spirit and by faith in the Truth;

Now, we rely on you in the Lord, confident that you do and will do what we enjoin.

For you know quite well how to copy us; we did not loaf in your midst,

we did not take free meals from anyone; no, toiling hard at our trade, we worked night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you.

Not that we have no right to such support; it was simply to give you a pattern to copy.

Now in the Lord Jesus Christ we charge and exhort such persons to keep quiet, to do their work and earn their own living.