King James Bible
"Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"
Jesus points to God's meticulous care in adorning even common grass with beauty, referencing the wildflowers that dotted Galilean hillsides. This builds on his previous teaching about lilies surpassing Solomon's splendor, establishing God as the active provider of creation's smallest details. Dried grass served as common fuel for clay ovens in first-century Palestine, emphasizing its temporary and seemingly insignificant nature. This stark image of something beautiful yet utterly ephemeral heightens the contrast Jesus is drawing. The argument moves from lesser to greater: if God lavishes care on fleeting grass, how much more will he provide for humans made in his image. This rhetorical question expects an obvious 'yes,' challenging listeners to trust in God's superior valuation of their needs. This gentle rebuke diagnoses the root problem as insufficient trust rather than insufficient resources. The term appears multiple times in Matthew when disciples doubt God's power or provision, marking anxiety about material needs as fundamentally a faith issue.