Five-minute study · Day 310 · Matthew 6
Matthew 6:34
A word worth stopping on: thought μεριμνάω merimnao
'Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' The Greek word behind 'take no thought' is merimnao. To worry, to be anxious, to be pulled apart. The root is merizo: to divide. Worry, in its Greek anatomy, is a dividing of the mind. You are here, in today, with today's bread and today's work and today's trouble. Merimnao pulls part of your mind into tomorrow, a place you cannot act, cannot fix, cannot inhabit yet. Jesus had just finished talking about birds and lilies. He pointed at creatures that live entirely in the present and said: look at them. They are fed. They are clothed. Then he said this verse. One day at a time. Today's trouble is sufficient. Do not import tomorrow's.
Word study: thought
- Greek
- μεριμνάω
- Pronounced
- merimnao
- Strong's
- G3309
- Definition
- To be anxious, to worry, to be troubled with cares. From merizo (to divide, to distribute, to separate into parts). The word implies a divided mind, pulled between present and future, between what is and what might be.
Merimnao appears 19 times in the New Testament. BDAG defines it as 'to be apprehensive, to have anxiety, to be anxious, to be concerned.' The word carries a negative connotation in most New Testament uses, indicating worry that displaces trust. It appears six times in the Sermon on the Mount alone (Matthew 6:25, 27, 28, 31, 34, twice in verse 34). Jesus said: do not merimnao about your life, your food, your clothing, tomorrow. The verb also appears in Luke 10:41 (Martha, 'thou art careful [merimnas] and troubled about many things'), Philippians 4:6 ('Be careful [merimnate] for nothing'), and 1 Peter 5:7 ('casting all your care [merimnan] upon him').
Carson's commentary on Matthew (EBC) examines Matthew 6:25-34 as the conclusion of a sustained teaching on single-mindedness. The section follows the sayings about money (6:19-24): 'Ye cannot serve God and mammon.' Carson notes that the prohibition against merimnao is grounded in God's character, observable in nature. The birds of the air (6:26) do not sow, reap, or store in barns. The lilies of the field (6:28-29) do not labor or spin. Both are sustained. The argument moves from lesser to greater: if God feeds birds, will he not feed you?
Carson observes that Jesus's prohibition is specifically aimed at anxious worry, not responsible planning. The Greek merizo (to divide) behind merimnao reveals the mechanics. Worry divides your attention between the present moment, where you can act, and the future, where you cannot. The division is what cripples. You become half present, half absent, fully effective in neither. Verse 34 adds a striking concession: 'sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' Jesus did not deny that trouble exists. He said today's trouble is enough. Tomorrow's trouble, added to today's, creates a load that was never meant to be carried simultaneously. The verb merimnao describes the mental action of stacking days on top of each other until the pile collapses.
Historical context · c. 28-30 AD, Galilee under Roman administration
The Sermon on the Mount and Economic Anxiety in First-Century Galilee
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) was delivered to a crowd in Galilee, a region under significant economic pressure. Galilee in the first century was primarily agricultural. Peasant farmers worked small plots, producing grain, olives, grapes, and figs. The tax burden was layered: Roman tribute (paid to the emperor through local collectors), Herodian taxes (Herod Antipas governed Galilee as a client ruler), and Temple taxes (the annual half-shekel and tithes). Estimates suggest that the combined tax burden consumed 35-40 percent of a peasant family's produce.
The economic context makes Jesus's words about anxiety sharply concrete. When Jesus said 'take no thought for what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink' (6:25), his audience included people for whom the next meal was genuinely uncertain. The birds and lilies illustrations were drawn from the Galilean landscape: sparrows in the grain fields, wildflowers on the hillsides. These were not decorative images. They were evidence visible from where the crowd was sitting.
Archaeological work in Galilee has revealed the material culture of the period. Excavations at villages like Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Gamla show modest basalt-stone houses with packed-earth floors, simple cooking installations, and storage jars for grain and oil. The fishing industry on the Sea of Galilee provided protein and employment, with fish processed and exported in salted form. Magdala (Tarichaeae, meaning 'salted fish') was a processing center. Peter, Andrew, James, and John came from this economy. When Jesus told them to stop dividing their minds between today and tomorrow, he spoke to men who understood precarity from the inside. The instruction was not given from a position of wealth. It was given by a traveling teacher who 'hath not where to lay his head' (Matthew 8:20) to people whose daily bread was a real question.
For reflection
List three things you are worried about. Circle the one that belongs to today. Cross out the ones that belong to tomorrow. For the next hour, work only on the circled item.
If none of the three belong to today, all three are merimnao. Set the list down.
Sources: BDAG; Carson, 'Matthew' (EBC)