The Greek verb hesuchazo means to be quiet, to rest, or to desist from activity. It appears five times in the New Testament: Luke 23:56 (the women 'rested' on the Sabbath), Acts 11:18 (the Jerusalem church 'quieted down'), Acts 21:14 (Paul's companions 'gave up'), 1 Thessalonians 4:11 ('make it your ambition to lead a quiet life'), and Luke 14:4 (when no one answered Jesus, 'he healed the man and sent him away').
Paul's command in 1 Thessalonians 4:11 — 'make it your ambition to lead a quiet (hesuchazo) life' — is paradoxical: it takes ambition to be un-ambitious, effort to rest. The Christian life involves a purposeful quieting of anxious striving. On the Sabbath before the resurrection, the faithful women hesuchasan — they rested, trusting God's word though they did not yet understand. The model is both practical (ordered, un-disruptive daily life) and spiritual (Sabbath rest, trust in God).