Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Parallel translations
- WEB In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
- BSB Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- NKJV Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
- NASB Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
- NLT Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
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
Instead of anxiety, believers are to bring everything to God in thankful prayer. Prayer is the appointed remedy for worry.
Overview
Paul counters anxiety not with mere positive thinking but with prayer that brings 'everything' before God. The blend of petition and thanksgiving reflects trust in a Father who hears and has already proven faithful. This verse turns the believer from fretting inward to casting cares upward, the practical fruit of confidence in God's care.
Cross-references & the web
Theme
- Prayer"In everything by prayer… let your requests be made known to God."
Cross-references · 39
- Prov 3:5–6Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
- 1 Pet 5:7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
- Matt 6:25–33Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought 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 meat, and the body than raiment?
- Ps 55:22Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
- 1 Th 5:17–18Pray without ceasing.
- Matt 7:7–8Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
- Ps 34:5–7They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
- Matt 6:8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
- Jer 33:3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
- Ps 62:8Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
- Prov 16:3Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
- Col 4:2Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
- Eph 6:18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
- Luke 18:1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
- Col 3:17And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
- Luke 12:22And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
- Col 3:15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
- Ps 51:15O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
- Ps 55:17Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
- 1 Sam 30:6And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
- Eph 5:20Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
- Jude 1:20–21But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
- Luke 10:41And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
- Matt 10:19But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
- Prov 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
- Luke 12:29And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
- 2 Chr 33:12–13And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
- 1 Sam 1:15And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.
- Luke 18:7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
- 2 Cor 1:11Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
- 1 Pet 4:7But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
- 1 Cor 7:32But 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:
- Matt 13:22He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
- Gen 32:7–12Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
- 1 Sam 7:12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.
- Dan 3:16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
- 2 Chr 32:20And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.
- 1 Cor 7:21Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
- Song 2:14O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
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Christ at the center
The one who, being in the form of God, emptied himself to the point of death on a cross and was exalted to the name above every name — the joy and prize of the believer.
How Philippians 4:6 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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