and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we charged you;
as we commanded you; and the command of an apostle carries weight and authority with it, and ought to be obeyed; yea, they not only strictly enjoined a diligent application to business, but set them an example themselves, see 1 Thessalonians 2:9.