Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 (NIV)
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Philippians 4:6 (KJV)
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 (ESV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6 (NASB)Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.
Philippians 4:6 (AMP)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
Philippians 4:6 (AMPC)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.
Philippians 4:6 (MSG)Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
New Covenant Meaning
"Be Anxious for Nothing" Is a Present Imperative: Stop the Pattern
The Greek merimnate is a present imperative with a negative (me), which in Greek grammar often means to stop doing something already in progress rather than simply never beginning it. Paul is not writing to people who have never experienced anxiety. He is writing to people in a real situation, a church he loves while imprisoned, with genuine concerns about their welfare and his own. The command is not a rebuke of the emotion but a redirection of it. Stop allowing anxiety to be the operating system of your life. Bring what you are anxious about into prayer instead.
Three Words for Prayer, Not One
Paul uses three different prayer words in this verse: proseuche (general prayer, the broadest category, prayer directed toward God), deesis (supplication, earnest entreaty for a specific need, requesting that something be done), and aitema (requests, the specific things you are asking for). The instruction is not to pray vaguely but to take the precise contents of your anxiety and convert them into specific requests brought to God. Prayer is not a general posture of spiritual effort. It is the concrete transfer of anxiety into petition in the presence of God.
The word "thanksgiving" (eucharistia) sits inside the anxiety command as the tone of the asking. Paul does not say to pray after you feel grateful. He says to bring your requests with thanksgiving. The thanksgiving is not contingent on the answer arriving first. It accompanies the asking. This changes the texture of the prayer entirely. A request made with thanksgiving is a request made by someone who already believes they are in relationship with a good God, regardless of how the specific situation resolves. Gratitude does not deny the need. It reframes who you are bringing the need to.
Application for Your Life
Anxiety Is Not Addressed by Willpower but by Prayer
The command "be anxious for nothing" is not achieved by self-discipline or positive thinking. Paul does not say "be strong" or "remind yourself of good things." He says pray. The pathway out of anxiety is not self-management but the specific transfer of every anxious thought into concrete prayer. The "nothing" and the "everything" are matched: there is nothing too small to bring to God because the command covers everything. What you are tempted to carry quietly, worrying about it alone, is exactly what belongs in prayer.
The Sequence: Anxiety Out, Peace In
Verse 6 and verse 7 are a cause-and-effect pair. The practice of prayer with thanksgiving (v. 6) is what precedes the arrival of the peace that surpasses understanding (v. 7). Paul does not promise that prayer will solve every situation. He promises that the God who receives the prayer will respond with peace that guards the heart and mind. The peace is not the resolution of the circumstances. It is the settled guarding of a person who has genuinely brought their concerns into God's presence. That peace is the outcome of the prayer, not of the circumstances changing.
Prayer Based on This Verse
Father, I bring You what I am anxious about right now. Not in vague spiritual terms but specifically: the situation I keep returning to, the outcome I cannot control, the conversation I am dreading, the provision I do not yet see. I am not hiding these from You. I am making them known to You, as You asked. And I bring them with thanksgiving, because You are good and You have already shown me that. You know the weight of this. You know what I need before I ask. I am not informing You of something You missed. I am joining You in the place where You have invited me to bring everything. Guard my heart and mind with the peace that makes no logical sense. I trust You. In Jesus' name. Amen.