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careful full of care, anxious
"Be careful for nothing" in Philippians 4:6 is not advice to be reckless. It means do not be anxious about anything — the next line is about prayer and peace.
Means: full of care, anxiousIn the KJV: 15 timesStill in use, different meaning
Forms in the text
The word behind it
Where it appears
All 15 verses.
Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Common questions
What does "careful" mean in the Bible?
In the King James Version careful means full of care, anxious. "Be careful for nothing" in Philippians 4:6 is not advice to be reckless. It means do not be anxious about anything — the next line is about prayer and peace.
How many times does "careful" appear in the King James Version?
15 times, counting its other forms (careful 7 times, carefully 4 times, carefulness 4 times).
What Greek word is behind "careful"?
Most often μεριμνάω (merimnáō), Strong's G3309, meaning to be anxious about.
More like this
All 100 words → · Strong's concordance
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