BIBLE VERSE STUDY
Matthew 6:25-34 — Do Not Be Anxious About Tomorrow
In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus forbids anxiety over food, drink, and clothing, points to the birds of heaven and the lilies of the field as evidence of the Father's care, and commands his listeners to seek first the kingdom and righteousness of God.
Scripture
25Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious 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 the food, and the body than the raiment?
26Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they?
27And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life?
28And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
What this passage means
The passage opens with the inferential connector 'Therefore' (Greek Διά, Strong's G1223), tying the command against anxiety directly to the preceding warning that no one can serve two masters (v. 24). Because devotion to wealth and devotion to God are mutually exclusive, anxiety over necessities is shown to be a symptom of divided loyalty. Jesus frames the issue not as one of provision but of trust: if God has given the greater gift — life itself and the body — the lesser gifts of food and clothing will follow.
The illustration moves in two steps. First, the birds of the heaven (v. 26) neither sow nor reap nor store, yet the Father feeds them; the argument is from lesser to greater (a fortiori), not from biology to theology. Second, the lilies of the field (vv. 28-30) outshine Solomon in his glory, and even the temporary grass receives clothing from God — how much more his covenant people. Verse 27 inserts a reminder that anxiety itself cannot add a single cubit to one's span of life, making the futility of worry explicit.
Verses 31-34 give the positive command. The forbidden anxiety is characterized as the distinctively Gentile (ἐθνικός) quest — seeking these necessities as if no heavenly Father existed. The alternative is a priority ordering: 'seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,' and the necessities 'will be added.' The closing proverb, 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,' does not deny suffering but forbids the multiplication of present troubles by carrying tomorrow's load today.
Context
Matthew 6:25-34 sits in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount and directly follows the block on treasures (vv. 19-21), the single eye (vv. 22-23), and the impossibility of serving two masters (v. 24). The curated chapter note identifies Matthew 6 with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving — the three acts of piety Jesus reinterprets in the surrounding verses (vv. 1-18). Verses 25-34 therefore function as a hinge: having critiqued the visible, anxious religious performance of the hypocrites, Jesus now addresses the underlying anxiety about daily provision that the Gentiles exhibit. The prayer Jesus has just taught in vv. 9-13 — 'Give us this day our daily bread' — is itself a model that asks for daily provision without anxious accumulation, and the present passage explains the posture behind that petition.
Key words in the original
- G3309 μεριμνάω (merimnaō), Strong's G3309, defined as 'to be anxious about.' The verse repeats this verb in the present imperative with μή, forbidding an ongoing mindset rather than a single act of worry — the concern is the settled disposition, not occasional concern.
- G1223 διά (dia), Strong's G1223, 'through, on account of.' The opening 'Therefore' (Διὰ τοῦτο) explicitly grounds the prohibition of anxiety in the immediately preceding saying about two masters (v. 24), showing that anxiety about necessities is the practical outworking of divided allegiance.
- G5590 ψυχή (psychē), Strong's G5590, 'breath, life, soul.' In v. 25 'life' (ψυχῇ) is distinguished from the body and treated as the greater gift of God. The a fortiori argument — life is more than food — depends on this assumed ordering of gifts.
Common questions
Does Matthew 6:25 forbid all concern for food and clothing?
No. The verse forbids anxious, consuming worry that displaces trust in the Father. Jesus himself ate, was hungry, and acknowledged that his disciples had needs (cf. the model prayer 'Give us this day our daily bread' in 6:11, which asks for provision without anxious accumulation).
What does 'seek first his kingdom and his righteousness' (v. 33) mean?
Within the immediate context of Matthew 6, seeking the kingdom and righteousness is the positive counterpart to the earlier sections on secret giving, secret prayer, and secret fasting (vv. 1-18) — a righteousness oriented toward God's approval rather than human spectacle. The promise that 'these things shall be added' does not turn necessities into the goal but assures that a God-oriented life will receive what a worry-oriented life tries to secure by its own effort.
Does verse 34 ('Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof') deny real suffering?
The verse does not deny that hardship exists; the same word 'evil' (κακία) used here is acknowledged elsewhere in the chapter (vv. 13, 'deliver us from the evil one'). What it forbids is the compounding of one day's trouble by borrowing tomorrow's. The verse is about the timing of grief and anxiety, not the existence of affliction.