Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!
Parallel translations
- KJV Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
- BSB Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouse or barn; yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!
- NKJV Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
- NASB Consider the ravens, that they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!
- NLT Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Consider the ravens: they do not sow or store, yet God feeds them, and you are far more valuable. God's provision for creation assures His care for His people.
Overview
Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater: if God feeds even ravens, which do no farming, He will surely provide for His people, who are worth far more. The point is not idleness but trust in the Father's faithful provision. This grounds freedom from anxiety in the character of a caring, generous God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 147:9He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
- Luke 12:7But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.
- Matt 10:31Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.
- Job 38:41Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
- Ps 145:15–16The eyes of all wait for you. You give them their food in due season.
- Job 35:11who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
- 1 Kgs 17:1–6Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
- Luke 12:30–32For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.
- Mark 6:26The king was exceedingly sorry, but for the sake of his oaths, and of his dinner guests, he didn’t wish to refuse her.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 12:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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