Matthew 6:25-27
Jesus does not argue that worry is unreasonable. He argues that it is ineffective, and that provision is not ultimately your project alone.
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Scripture first. Everything else is clearly labelled.
What the labels mean
- ScriptureThe King James Version, public domain, quoted exactly. Never edited, never paraphrased.
- Context / MeaningEditorial background and plain-language explanation written for this app.
- Modern interpretationPsychology, behaviour or science, shown only when it genuinely helps. Never proof of a theological claim.
- ReflectiveSymbolic and personal readings. Ways of thinking with the text, not what the author meant.
- PracticeSomething realistic you might do. An invitation you choose, not a command from God.
Written study
A curated study written for these verses: context, meaning, connections, reflection, alignment and practice.
Start here
The short version
- What is happening
- Part of the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7), a sustained block of teaching about life in the kingdom.
- Why it matters here
- Anxiety about basic needs is being addressed directly, not dismissed.
- One key idea
- Jesus does not argue that worry is unreasonable. He argues that it is ineffective, and that provision is not ultimately your project alone.
- One connection
- Jesus of Nazareth — Person
What specifically am I afraid will not be provided?
A summary of what follows. Editorial, not Scripture.
New to the Bible?
Adds short explanations of the names, places and words in these verses, right where they come up.
Ask about this
What would you like to understand?
Answers are drawn from what is written for Matthew 6:25-27, the people and places named in it, and this book's background. No AI service is connected in this build, so nothing here is machine-generated.
UnderstandWhat is happening herePlain language, faithful to the setting — plus who wrote it and why.
Anxiety about basic needs is being addressed directly, not dismissed. Jesus points to the birds — not as an argument against work (birds forage constantly) but against anxious accumulation as the thing that secures life. The rhetorical question in verse 27 makes the practical point: worry adds nothing.
Where traditions read this differently
Most Christian traditions
Read this as a call to trust and reordered priority, not as a prohibition on planning, saving, or responsible provision.
Who wrote this, to whom, and why
Editorial background written for this app. Not Scripture.
New to this? What “context” means here
Every part of the Bible was written by someone, for someone, in a particular time and place. Knowing who wrote it, who first read it and what came just before and after usually settles most questions about what it means.
Where we are not sure, we say so. “Traditional” means a long-standing attribution; “debated” means scholars genuinely disagree.
- Author
- The Gospel according to Matthew; traditionally attributed to Matthew the tax collector. (traditional)
- Audience
- A largely Jewish-Christian readership; within the narrative, Jesus is teaching disciples and crowds on a hillside in Galilee.
- Literary setting
- Part of the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7), a sustained block of teaching about life in the kingdom.
- Surrounding argument
- Immediately before, Jesus says no one can serve both God and mammon (6:24). 'Therefore' ties the worry teaching to that: this is about competing trusts. It concludes in 6:33 with 'seek ye first the kingdom of God'.
- Historical background
- 'Take no thought' renders a phrase closer to 'do not be anxious' in modern English — the KJV wording has shifted in meaning since 1611. Most original hearers were subsistence-level workers for whom food and clothing were genuinely precarious, which makes the teaching more pointed, not less.
What remains uncertain
The relationship between Matthew's sermon and Luke's parallel material (Luke 12) is debated; the substance of the teaching is consistent across both.
References
- Matthew 6:24, 6:33 (framing verses)
- Luke 12:22–31 (parallel)
- KJV 'take no thought' — Early modern English idiom for anxious care.
ConnectWho and what this connects to3 people, places and ideas named in these verses — and where you are in the story.
Tap any of these to see who or what it is, why it matters here, and where else it appears in our library. Editorial material, not Scripture.
- PersonJesus of NazarethHe teaches about anxiety and provision in the Sermon on the Mount.Know the Bible
- ConceptThe kingdom of GodThe teaching on anxiety sits in a section that culminates in seeking the kingdom first.Know the Bible
- PlaceGalileeThe working northern region where most of the teaching actually happened.Know the Bible
AnglesSee it from a few anglesBiblical, human and — clearly marked — reflective readings, converging on one life.
These are ways of seeing, not competing theories to collect. They are editorial interpretation rather than Scripture, and they are here to meet in the alignment step below.
Biblical
What this contributes within Scripture
The passage belongs to a larger scriptural theme of provision — manna in Exodus, the shepherd of Psalm 23 — where God's care is real but rarely arrives in the form of a stockpile.
Human pattern
Common human tendencies at work
Worry feels like preparation. Rehearsing a feared outcome gives the sense of doing something about it, which is why it is so hard to set down.
MindModern interpretation
Modern psychology — not Scripture
Anxious thought loops are self-reinforcing: each rehearsal makes the feared scenario more available to attention, which makes it feel more likely, which prompts more rehearsal.
ScienceModern interpretation
Modern evidence — not Scripture
Worry research finds that the large majority of specifically predicted worries do not occur as imagined, and that chronic worry is better predicted by intolerance of uncertainty than by actual risk. This is modern evidence about how worry behaves; it is offered as illumination, not as proof of the text.
Modern evidence: Clinical psychology research on worry. Not Scripture, and not a substitute for care if anxiety is severe. Evidence like this can illustrate a passage; it does not prove a theological claim.
Historical
Background that changes the meaning
For day-labourers in first-century Galilee, 'what shall we eat' was a daily rather than theoretical question. Jesus is speaking to material precarity, not middle-class inconvenience.
Whole-Bible
Connection to the wider Christian story
The teaching rests on the character of the Father Jesus describes throughout the sermon: one who sees in secret, knows what you need, and is approached as a parent rather than negotiated with.
ReflectWhat this brings up for youOpen questions that assume nothing about your situation. Answers stay on this device.
What specifically am I afraid will not be provided?
What does my worry claim I must control?
What is the difference, this week, between planning and worrying?
What would trust look like without becoming passivity?
What needs to come into alignment?
What am I trying to secure by worrying that worry cannot actually secure?
- Notice
- Understand
- Choose
- Practise
Alignment is coherence between what you understand, believe, choose and do. It is not a score, and no one is measuring you. Anything suggested here is a possibility to weigh, never a command from God to you personally.
In your own words, what does this passage say?
In yourself, honestly, as you read it.
What you actually hold to be true here.
Your real behaviour, not your intentions.
Between what you believe and what you do.
Your own discernment — this app will not tell you what God requires of you.
One concrete action for the next 24 hours. Small and specific beats ambitious and vague.
Name it and hand it over
Write down the single worry that recurs most. Next to it write one action you can genuinely take this week. Pray about the rest, and stop rehearsing it for today.
Next 24 hours
If you keep practising this
Over time this tends to separate useful planning from useless rehearsal. If anxiety is persistent, disabling, or affecting your health, this practice is not a substitute for talking to a doctor or counsellor.
A possible direction, not a promised outcome.
RememberWhat to carry forwardOne takeaway, one memory hook, and anything you want to keep.
Build my understanding
Remember this much
- Who / what
- Matthew 6:25-27 — Gospel in Matthew
- Where
- Matthew · The life of Jesus
- What happened
- Part of the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7), a sustained block of teaching about life in the kingdom.
- Why it matters
- Anxiety about basic needs is being addressed directly, not dismissed.
- Key idea
- Jesus does not argue that worry is unreasonable. He argues that it is ineffective, and that provision is not ultimately your project alone.
“What am I trying to secure by worrying that worry cannot actually secure?”
Optional, in your own words. Private to this device.
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You choose what the card says. Your notes and reflections stay on this device.
Community perspective
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Translation
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Prefer to read the surrounding chapter? Open Matthew 6.