Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Parallel translations
- WEB Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height?
- KJV And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
- NKJV And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
- NASB And which of you by worrying can add a day to his life’s span?
- NLT Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
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
No one can add a single cubit to his life span by worrying. Anxiety is powerless to secure or extend our days.
Overview
Jesus exposes the futility of worry: it cannot accomplish even this small thing of lengthening life. Since anxiety changes nothing for the better, it is both pointless and a failure to trust God. The verse gently presses disciples to rest in God's sovereign care rather than in fruitless fretting.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
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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 12:25 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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