King James Bible
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?"
Jesus commands his listeners to stop anxiously verbalizing their worries, with 'therefore' connecting to his prior teaching about God's care for birds and flowers. The Greek term for 'take no thought' means to be anxiously preoccupied, not merely to plan ahead. These rhetorical questions represent basic survival needs that dominated daily life in first-century Palestine where most lived at subsistence level. Jesus targets the human tendency to let legitimate needs become consuming anxieties. Clothing represented both protection and social dignity in ancient culture, making this worry extend beyond mere survival to concerns about status and security. By listing these three fundamental needs, Jesus encompasses the full range of material anxieties that can distract from trusting God's provision.