Hardship (3449) (mochthos from mógos = labor, toil) means toil, painfulness, travail, afflicting and wearisome labor. Hardship, struggle, strenuous toil. It refers to hard and difficult labor involving suffering and implying an unusual exertion of energy and effort. The word refers to the trouble and pain of arduous work and the leading notion is that of struggling to overcome difficulties. Mochtos is the everyday word for that labor which, in one shape or another, is the lot of all the sinful children of Adam. It is more than kópos and it therefore follows kópos in all the three passages wherein it occurs. Kopos emphasizes fatigue and mochthos hardship. Mochthos is used 37 times in the Septuagint (LXX) (Exod. 18:8; Lev. 25:43, 46, 53; Num. 20:14; 23:21; Deut. 26:7; Neh. 9:32; Job 2:9; Eccl. 1:3; 2:10f, 18ff, 24; 3:13; 4:4, 6, 8f; 5:15, 18f; 6:7; 8:15; 9:9; 10:15; Isa. 55:2; 61:8; Jer. 3:24; 51:35; Lam. 3:65; Ezek. 23:29; 34:4). Note the 21 uses in Ecclesiastes with this representative use... Ecclesiastes 1:3 What advantage does man have in all his work (mochthos) which he does under the sun? There are 3 uses of mochthos in the NT... 2 Corinthians 11:27 I have been in labor (kopos) and hardship (mochthos), through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 1 Thessalonians 2:9 For you recall, brethren, our labor (kopos) and hardship (mochthos), how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 2 Thessalonians 3:8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor (kopos) and hardship (mochthos) we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you; Hiebert comments that... Paul's expression aptly stresses the reality and exhausting character of the work of the missionaries. It certainly was no pleasant, self-chosen activity adopted as an easy means of gaining a livelihood. In their own memories of the toil of the missionaries, the readers had proof of the self-sacrificing spirit of the preachers. (Hiebert, D. Edmond: 1 & 2 Thessalonians: BMH Book. 1996) HOW WORKING NIGHT AND DAY SO AS NOT TO BE A BURDEN TO ANY OF YOU: nuktos kai hemeras ergazomenoi (AAN) pros to me epibaresai (1PAAI) tina humon: (1Th 3:10; Psalms 32:4; 88:1; Jeremiah 9:1; Luke 2:37; 18:7; Acts 20:31; 1Ti 5:5; 2Ti 1:3) (1Th 2:6; Neh 5:15,18; 1Co 9:7,18; 2Co 11:9; 12:13,14) In a similar vein Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth reminding them... and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure (1Cor 4:12) If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, that we may cause no hindrance (egkope = impediment from egkopto which In classic Greek was used as a military metaphor meaning to cut in on, throw obstacles in the way of, or cut up the road so that normal movement is impossible) to the gospel of Christ. (1Cor 9:12) Paul spoke of his manual labor in Acts... (Paul came to Corinth to join Aquila and Priscilla) and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers. (Acts 18:3) (At Paul's last face to face address to the elders at Ephesus) You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. (Acts 20:34) Bruce observes that... A later teacher, Rabban Gamaliel III, gave voice to a traditional principle when he said that study of the Torah was excellent if it were combined with a secular occupation (Pirqe Abot… 2.2), and this principle, in accordance with which Paul had been brought up, was carried over by him into his apostolic ministry. In Thessalonica, then, as later in Corinth (1 Cor 4:12) and Ephesus (Acts 19:12; 20:34), Paul maintained himself by manual labor. (Bruce, F F: 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, Incorporated. 1982 or Logos) Working (2038) (ergazomai) means to engage in an activity involving considerable expenditure of effort. Night (3571) (nux) is literally the period between sunset and sunrise. Here night and day is a figure of speech. . Night and day reflects Jewish reckoning of time where the day begins at dusk (cf. Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 21). Moffatt quotes Ramsay writing that... Paul means by the phrase, night and day, that he started work before dawn; the usage is regular and frequent. He no doubt began so early in order to be able to devote some part of the day to preaching.