1 Thessalonians 2:9

For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.

This verse has drawn widely divergent comment:

Night and day...

Night precedes day in Jewish reckoning .... This does not mean that he wrought at his trade at night and preached during the daytime; but the phrase "night and day" denotes incessantly, continually.[17]

Probably Paul and his companions worked with their hands by day, and spent a considerable part of the night, or evenings, in preaching Christ to the people.[18]

Paul means by the phrase "night and day" that he started work before dawn; the usage is regular and frequent. He no doubt began work so early in order to be able to devote some part of the day to preaching.[19]

There is really no good reason why all of the above comments might be true, at one time or another, with regard to Paul's working "night and day." We may be sure that he utilized every possible device to extend his opportunity of preaching the word.

[17] P. J. Cloag, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 21 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 28.

[18] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible, Vol. VI (London: Carlton and Porter, 1829), p. 542.

[19] Moffatt, James, The Expositor's Greek Testament, Vol. IV (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 28.