Meddling

Some people cannot leave other folks’ business alone, and the Bible says so plainly. “It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling,” says Proverbs. Paul meets the same trouble among Christians who “walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies,” and he asks them to work with quietness and eat their own bread. The old law adds a related warning against going about as a talebearer. The remedy in these verses is not coldness toward neighbours but steady, honest work of one’s own. Look at 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12.

5 verses

Leviticus

Leviticus 19:16

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

Proverbs

Proverbs 20:3

It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.

2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians 3:11

For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

2 Thessalonians 3:12

Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

1 Timothy

1 Timothy 5:13

And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.