2nd Thessalonians Chapter 3 verse 8 Holy Bible
neither did we eat bread for nought at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you:
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And we did not take food from any man for nothing, but were working hard night and day not to be a trouble to any of you:
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nor have we eaten bread from any one without cost; but in toil and hardship working night and day not to be chargeable to any one of you:
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Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
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neither did we eat bread from anyone's hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you;
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nor for nought did we eat bread of any one, but in labour and in travail, night and day working, not to be chargeable to any of you;
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - Neither did we eat any man's bread; a Hebraism for "neither did we get our sustenance," as bread was the staff of life. For nought; gratis, free of expense. But wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable unto any of you. The apostle makes the same declaration in his First Epistle, expressed in almost similar terms: "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).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) Neither.--They might have thought it possible to live on others without incurring so serious a charge as "disorderliness."Eat any man's bread.--Still more literally, eat bread from any man--i.e., "from any man's table." St. Paul always becomes picturesque and vivid in a passage of this kind, and generally Hebraistic ("eat bread," 2Samuel 9:7, and often). "For nought" is literally at a gift. There is a flavour of scorn in St. Paul's disclaimer of such a parasite's life.Wrought.--In the original it is the participle, "working," which better suits the rapid flow of the sentences. The order also is slightly more forcible: "We ate bread from no man's table at a gift, but in toil and travail, all night and day labouring that we," &c. To "be chargeable" means more than "to make you pay": it contains the notion of burdensome expense.
