Be Anxious for Nothing

The Verse

Philippians 4:6–7 — "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

"Be careful for nothing" in 17th-century English meant "be anxious about nothing" — careful at the time of the KJV translation carried the sense of "full of care," "worried," "anxious." Modern English uses "careful" almost exclusively in the sense of cautious, producing the common modern rendering: "Be anxious for nothing."

The Greek: Mēden Merimnate

Paul's Greek is mēden merimnate (μηδὲν μεριμνᾶτε) — a present imperative:

• Merimnaō (μεριμνάω, Strong's G3309) — "to be anxious, to be worried, to have care for." The verb's root is linked to merizō ("to divide, to pull apart") — a picture of the mind pulled in multiple directions.
• Mēden — "not one thing, nothing at all." Absolute.
• The tense is present imperative — "stop being anxious" or "do not go on being anxious about anything." Paul addresses an ongoing state, not a single incident.

The same verb merimnaō is used by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: "Take no thought (mē merimnate) for your life, what ye shall eat… Which of you by taking thought (merimnōn) can add one cubit unto his stature?" (Matthew 6:25, 27). Paul's Philippians 4:6 uses Jesus's exact verb.

The Context of the Letter

Paul wrote Philippians from prison — most likely the Roman imprisonment of Acts 28, around AD 60–62. The letter references Paul's "bonds" (Philippians 1:7, 13, 14, 17) and the imperial household (Philippians 4:22). This makes the "be anxious for nothing" command historically pointed: Paul issues the instruction from a Roman prison with his capital trial still pending.

Philippi was a Roman colony in Macedonia; the church was founded in Acts 16 through the conversion of Lydia (a dealer in purple cloth) and a jailer's household. Paul's personal relationship with the Philippians was close, and the letter returns repeatedly to the theme of chara (joy) — the word appears 16 times across four short chapters.

The Four-Part Command

Philippians 4:6 contains one negative command followed by three positive ones:

• "Be careful for nothing" — the absolute negative. Nothing is exempted.
• "By prayer" — Greek proseuchē (προσευχή, G4335), the general word for prayer addressed to God.
• "And supplication" — Greek deēsis (δέησις, G1162), a specific request, petitioning for something needed.
• "With thanksgiving" — Greek eucharistia (εὐχαριστία, G2169), from eu (good) + charis (grace). The word from which English "Eucharist" derives.

The grammatical structure is not "if you are anxious, pray." It is: replace anxiety with prayer-supplication-thanksgiving as a posture. The three positive elements are concurrent, not sequential.

"The Peace That Passeth All Understanding"

The promise attached to the command is hē eirēnē tou theou hē hyperechousa panta noun — "the peace of God, which surpasses (hyperechō) all understanding (nous)." Two Greek notes:

• Hyperechō (ὑπερέχω, G5242) — "to surpass, to be superior to, to excel over." The peace does not contradict understanding; it exceeds its grasp.
• Nous (νοῦς, G3563) — "mind, intellect, rational capacity." The peace Paul names operates on a register beyond what the reasoning mind can generate for itself.

The verb phrourēsei ("shall keep") is a military term — phroureō means "to garrison, to guard, to protect by stationing a sentry." Paul pictures the peace of God as an armed guard posted around the heart and mind. The metaphor would have been immediate to his Philippian readers: Philippi was a garrisoned Roman colony, and many congregants had served or served alongside the legions.

The Following Verse: What to Meditate On

Philippians 4:8 extends the argument: "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report… think on these things." The Greek verb is logizesthe — "reckon, consider, calculate on." Paul pairs the replacement of anxious thought with a deliberate redirection of attention. The command "be anxious for nothing" is not framed as emotional suppression but as the displacement of worry by prayer, thanksgiving, and focused attention on what is true.