Worry

Worry – Worried – What does that word mean in the Greek?

The word is found several times in this passage:

Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV)
²⁵  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
²⁶  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
²⁷  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
²⁸  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
²⁹  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
³⁰  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
³¹  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
³²  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
³³  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
³⁴  “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Worry – Matthew 6:25, 27, 28, 31,34

Matthew 6:31 (NKJV)
Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

The highlighted area above that is in blue shows the Greek word translated ‘worry’ is:  Μεριμνάω  

Logos states that the sense of “merimnao” is “to brood”    (fret   –  be anxious – be in personal conflict with self – etc.)

A dictionary of the English word ‘brood’ states:   verb

think deeply about something that makes one unhappy: he brooded over his need to find a wife

synonyms: worry, fret, agonize, mope, sulk, think, overthink, ponder,

For additional understanding of the word I have provided the definition for the Greek word “worry” below:

Strong’s Dict. G 3309 μεριμνάω [merimnao /mer·im·nah·o/] v. From 3308; TDNT 4:589; TDNTA 584; GK 3534; 19 occurrences; AV translates as “take thought” 11 times, “care” five times, “be careful” twice, and “have care” once. 1 to be anxious. 1a to be troubled with cares. 2 to care for, look out for (a thing). 2a to seek to promote one’s interests. 2b caring or providing for.^[1]

Louw-Nida – LN 25.225 μεριμνάω: (derivative of μέριμνα ‘worry,’ 25.224) to have an anxious concern, based on apprehension about possible danger or misfortune—‘to be worried about, to be anxious about.’ τίς δὲ ἐξ ὑμῶν μεριμνῶν δύναται ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν αὐτοῦ προσθεῖναι πῆχυν; ‘can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?’ Lk 12:25; μὴ μεριμνήσητε πῶς ἢ τί λαλήσητε ‘do not worry about how or what you are going to say’ Mt 10:19.^[2]

BDAG:  μεριμνάω fut. μεριμνήσω; 1 aor. ἐμερίμνησα (μέριμνα; since Soph., Oed. Rex 1124; X., Pla. et al.; pap, LXX; ParJer 6:15; EpArist 296; SibOr 3, 222; 234; Just., A I, 25, 2).

① to be apprehensive, have anxiety, be anxious, be (unduly) concerned (PTebt 315, 9 [II a.d.] γράφω ὅπως μὴ μεριμνῇς; Ps 37:19) μηδέν have no anxiety Phil 4:6 (WWeeda, Filipp. 4:6 en 7: TSt 34, 1916, 326–35). περί τινος Mt 6:28; Lk 12:26; Dg 9:6. W. indir. question foll.: πῶς ἢ τί λαλήσητε about how you are to speak or what you are to say Mt 10:19; cp. Lk 12:11 (cp. ParJer 6:15 τὸ πῶς ἀποστείλῃς πρὸς Ἰερεμίαν). W. dat. and a question foll. μὴ μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ (dat. of advantage: for your life, B-D-F §188, 1; Rob. 539) ὑμῶν τί φάγητε Mt 6:25; Lk 12:22. Abs. Mt 6:31; in ptc. (s. Mlt. 230) Mt 6:27; Lk 12:25. Beside θορυβάζεσθαι περὶ πολλά of the distracting cares of housekeeping 10:41 (the text is uncertain; s. Zahn and EKlostermann, also FSträhl, Krit. u. exeget. Beleuchtung von Lk 10:41f: SchTZ 4, 1887, 116–23). εἰς τὴν αὔριον do not worry about tomorrow Mt 6:34a.

② to attend to, care for, be concerned about τὶ someth. (Soph., loc. cit.; cp. Bar 3:18) τὰ τοῦ κυρίου the Lord’s work 1 Cor 7:32; 34a. τὰ τοῦ κόσμου vss. 33, 34b. τὰ περί τινος someone’s welfare Phil 2:20. ἡ αὔριον μεριμνήσει ἑαυτῆς will look after itself (Itala ‘sibi’.—B-D-F §176, 2; Rob. 509) Mt 6:34b (v.l. τὰ ἑαυτῆς care about its own concerns). τὶ ὑπέρ τινος: ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων μεριμνῶσιν τὰ μέλη that the parts may have the same concern for one another 1 Cor 12:25.—DELG s.v. μέριμνα. M-M. TW.^[3]

Vines Dict.:   Greek word:  merimna (μέριμνα, 3308 or Worry 

CARE (noun and verb), CAREFUL, CAREFULLY, CAREFULNESS 

1. Nouns.
2. merimna (μέριμνα, 3308), probably connected with merizo, “to draw in different directions, distract,” hence signifies “that which causes this, a care, especially an anxious care,” Matt. 13:22; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14; 21:34; 2 Cor. 11:28 (rv, “anxiety for”), 1 Pet. 5:7 (rv, “anxiety”). See anxiety.¶

Note: The negative adjective amerimnos (a, negative) signifies “free from care,” Matt. 28:14, rv, “we will … rid you of care,” kjv, “we will … secure you” (“secure” lit. means “free from care”); 1 Cor. 7:32, kjv, “without carefulness.”¶

2. spoude (σπουδή, 4710), primarily “haste, zeal, diligence,” hence means “earnest care, carefulness,” 2 Cor. 7:11-12; 8:16 (rv, “earnest care,” in each place). Merimna conveys the thought of anxiety, spoude, of watchful interest and earnestness. See business, diligence (A, No. 2), earnestness, forwardness, haste.
3. Verbs.
4. merimnao (μεριμνάω, 3309), akin to A, No. 1, signifies “to be anxious about, to have a distracting care,” e.g., Matt. 6:25, 28, rv, “be anxious,” for kjv, “take thought”; 10:19; Luke 10:41 (rv, “anxious,” for kjv, “careful”); 12:11 (rv, “anxious”); to be careful for, 1 Cor. 7:32- 34; to have a care for, 1 Cor. 12:25; to care for, Phil. 2:20; “be anxious,” Phil. 4:6, rv. See thought (to take). ^[4]

Matthew 6:31
(ESV)  ³¹  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

NASB:  “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’

NKJV:  “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

NIV:  ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

Message Bible V. 30-33:        “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

YLT:  ³¹therefore ye may not be anxious, saying, What may we eat? or, What may we drink? or, What may we put round?

NLT:   “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’

NASB:

Doing a Passage Analysis  –
These show how each translation team viewed the word “worry” in Matt. 6:31

The ESV:

The NKJV:

The KJV:

The NIV:

^[1] Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.

^[2] Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 312). New York: United Bible Societies.

^[3] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 632). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

^[4] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 89). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.