II Thessalonians 3:2
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And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not everyone holds to the faith.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
that we . . . be delivered from unreasonable . . . men--literally, men out of place, inept, unseemly: out of the way bad: more than ordinarily bad. An undesigned coincidence with Act 18:5-9. Paul was now at Corinth, where the JEWS "opposed themselves" to his preaching: in answer to his prayers and those of his converts at Thessalonica and elsewhere, "the Lord, in vision," assured him of exemption from "the hurt," and of success in bringing in "much people." On the unreasonable, out-of-the way perversity of the Jews, as known to the Thessalonians, see Th1 2:15-16. have not faith--or as Greek, "the faith" of the Christian: the only antidote to what is "unreasonable and wicked." The Thessalonians, from their ready acceptance of the Gospel (Th1 1:5-6), might think "all" would similarly receive it; but the Jews were far from having such a readiness to believe the truth.
Open source ↗In the close of the foregoing chapter, the apostle had prayed earnestly for the Thessalonians, and now he desires their prayers, encouraging them to trust in God, to which he subjoins another petition for them (Th2 3:1-5). He then proceeds to give them commands and directions for correcting some things he was informed were amiss among them (Th2 3:6-15) and concludes with benedictions and prayers (Th2 3:16-18).
Open source ↗3:2 Paul, too, suffered for the Good News (2 Cor 6:5; 11:23-26; 1 Thes 2:2). His prayer to be rescued echoes Isa 25:4.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Pray that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there,
He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation— children of unfaithfulness.
I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”
But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe.
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.
For we wanted to come to you—indeed I, Paul, tried again and again—but Satan obstructed us.
The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.
“O unbelieving and perverse generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me.”