Limitless Word
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Philippians 4:6 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
  • KJV Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
  • BSB Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests 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 Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
  • 1 Pet 5:7casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.
  • Matt 6:25–33Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
  • Ps 55:22Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved.
  • 1 Th 5:17–18Pray without ceasing.
  • Matt 7:7–8“Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.
  • Ps 34:5–7They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.
  • Matt 6:8Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.
  • Jer 33:3‘Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don’t know.’
  • Ps 62:8Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.
  • Prov 16:3Commit your deeds to Yahweh, and your plans shall succeed.
  • Col 4:2Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving;
  • Eph 6:18with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints:
  • Luke 18:1He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,
  • Col 3:17Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
  • Luke 12:22He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.
  • Col 3:15And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
  • Ps 51:15Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.
  • Ps 55:17Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice.
  • 1 Sam 30:6David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.
  • Eph 5:20giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;
  • Jude 1:20–21But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
  • Luke 10:41Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
  • Matt 10:19But when they deliver you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say.
  • Prov 15:8The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
  • Luke 12:29Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.
  • 2 Chr 33:12–13When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
  • 1 Sam 1:15Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh.
  • Luke 18:7Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
  • 2 Cor 1:11you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf.
  • 1 Pet 4:7But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.
  • 1 Cor 7:32But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
  • Matt 13:22What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
  • Gen 32:7–12Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;
  • 1 Sam 7:12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.”
  • Dan 3:16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
  • 2 Chr 32:20Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried to heaven.
  • 1 Cor 7:21Were you called being a bondservant? Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it.
  • Song 2:14My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Philippians videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Philippians 4:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PhilippiansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.