King James Bible
"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:"
Jesus challenges his listeners' anxiety about clothing, using a rhetorical question to expose the futility of worry. This continues his Sermon on the Mount teaching against materialism, where 'taking thought' means being anxiously preoccupied rather than simply planning ahead. Christ directs attention to wildflowers as objects of contemplation, likely referring to various colorful blooms common in Galilee. The imperative 'consider' calls for careful observation of nature as a source of spiritual instruction about God's providence. The lilies' effortless beauty contrasts with human labor-intensive textile production, where 'toiling' and 'spinning' were exhausting daily realities in ancient agrarian society. This emphasizes that God's care operates apart from anxious human striving.