What Does Matthew 6:34 Mean?
Two renderings of the same sentence, the verses it belongs to, and what the passage is doing — so you can decide what it means rather than take someone's word for it.
"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:34, King James Version
The same verse in modern English
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34, Berean Standard Bible
What it sits inside
A verse quoted on its own is the commonest way one gets misread. Here it is with what comes immediately before and after, in the King James Version.
Matthew 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
A conversation built on it
Worry works ahead of itself, spending today on a tomorrow that has not arrived. The argument made here is not that the fears are silly — it is that anxiety has never once added anything. Birds work hard and still do not lie awake. Today was only ever given enough for today.
Questions people ask
What does Matthew 6:34 mean?
In modern English (Berean Standard Bible) it reads: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.” The King James rendering most people know is: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
What is the context of Matthew 6:34?
The verses immediately around it read: (Matthew 6:32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. (Matthew 6:33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
How is Matthew 6:34 used in a conversation about this?
Worry works ahead of itself, spending today on a tomorrow that has not arrived. The argument made here is not that the fears are silly — it is that anxiety has never once added anything. Birds work hard and still do not lie awake. Today was only ever given enough for today.
Reading it is one thing. Saying what it stirs up is another.
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