11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;



Ver. 11. Study to be quiet] Gr. Be ambitious of peace; as earnest and eager after it, as the ambitionist is after honour; who commonly rides without reins, rides over other men’s heads to compass his desire. The original is, öéëïôéìåéóèáé , love the honour to be quiet, or to rest and live in silence and not to be noted or noticed, ut qui vivens moriensque fefellit, affecting rather quietness from the world than any great acquaintance with it.



And to do your own business] Not oaring in other men’s boats, not meddling in other men’s bishoprics, 1Pe_4:15. Tu fuge ceu pestem, ôçí ðïëõðñáãìïóõíçí . Choler in the gall is useful to the body; but if it overflow, the body grows distempered. Let every man keep to his place, and affect to be no meddler, not to suffer as a busy body, Intra pelliculam tuam te contine, keep within your circle; eccentric motions cannot be right.



With your own hands] Or else with your own brains, as students, which is by far the harder labour.