Tool Beta
Is It Actually in the Bible?
Phrases people quote as Scripture. The real verse, or the honest answer that there is not one.
"Be careful for nothing" means don't be careful or cautious about anything
"Careful" in 1611 meant "full of anxious care," the opposite of the modern, positive sense of the word.
Philippians 4:6, in every translation this tool compares.
"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). Modern "careful" is a virtue, being cautious and attentive. The 1611 word is built directly from "full of care," where "care" meant worry or anxious distress, a sense that survives today mainly in the phrase "care-worn."
Paul isn't telling anyone to be reckless or inattentive. He's telling them not to be anxious, full stop, and to bring every anxious thing to God in prayer instead, which is why modern translations render this "do not be anxious about anything": "don't be careful about anything" would now tell readers the opposite of what Paul meant.
