μέριμν-α G3308
Anxiety, worry, or preoccupying care about worldly concerns; anxious solicitude that distracts from faith.
Merimna is the gnawing, distracting worry that consumes the mind with earthly concerns. Jesus warns against it repeatedly in the Synoptic parables: the cares of this world choke the word like thorns (Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14), and the anxieties of daily life can weigh down the heart (Luke 21:34). Paul, however, reclaims a positive edge to the word when he speaks of his daily 'care for all the churches' (2 Corinthians 11:28), showing that not all concern is spiritually destructive. The tension between harmful anxiety and godly concern runs through the word's NT usage.
Senses
1. anxiety, care, worry — Anxious concern or preoccupying worry about life's circumstances, particularly worldly matters that compete with spiritual attentiveness. In the Parable of the Sower, merimna represents the cares and anxieties that choke the seed of God's word (Matt 13:22; Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14). Luke 21:34 warns against hearts weighed down by the anxieties of life. Paul gives the word a different coloring in 2 Corinthians 11:28, where his daily merimna for all the churches reflects pastoral concern rather than faithless worry. Spanish 'afanes' and 'ansiedad' capture the restless, consuming quality, while French 'souci' and German 'Sorge' reflect the weight of ongoing preoccupation. The 1 Peter 5:7 invitation to cast all your merimna on God presupposes the word's burden-like quality. 6×
AR["الاهْتِمامُ", "هَمُّ", "هَمِّكُم", "هُمومٍ", "هُمومُ", "هُمومِ"]·ben["চিন্তা", "চিন্তায়", "চিন্তার"]·DE["Sorge", "μέριμνα", "μερίμναις", "μεριμνῶν"]·EN["anxieties", "anxiety", "care", "cares"]·FR["souci"]·heb["בְּ-דְאָגוֹת", "דְּאָגַת", "דְּאָגָה", "דְּאָגוֹת"]·HI["चिन्तअ", "चिन्ता", "चिन्ताएँ", "चिन्ताओं", "चिन्ताओं-से"]·ID["kekhawatiran", "kekuatiran", "kepedulian"]·IT["merimna", "merimnai", "merimnais", "merimnan", "merimnon", "preoccupazione"]·jav["kaprihatinan", "kuatosing", "kuwatos", "sumelang", "sumelangé"]·KO["걱정들과", "걱정을", "걱정이다", "염려가", "염려들에", "염려들이"]·PT["cuidados", "preocupação", "preocupações"]·RU["забот", "забота", "заботах", "заботу", "заботы", "попечение"]·ES["afanes", "ansiedad", "preocupaciones", "preocupación"]·SW["masumbufu", "wasiwasi"]·TR["endişelerle,", "endişesi", "kaygılarla", "kaygıları", "kaygınızı", "kaygısı"]·urd["فکر", "فکروں", "فکریں"]
Related Senses
G2309 1. want, desire (166×)G0025 1. to love actively (133×)H0157 1. love (verb, active Qal) (129×)H8055 1. Qal: rejoice, be glad (123×)H7453 1. neighbor, fellow man (120×)G0026 1. of love (115×)H1058 1. Qal: to weep, cry (112×)H0954 1. to be ashamed, feel shame (Qal) (95×)H8057 1. joy, gladness, delight (90×)H2781 1. disgrace, shame, dishonor (68×)G2307 1. will, desire, purpose (63×)G5463 1. rejoice, be glad (63×)G0027 1. beloved (61×)H8130 1. Qal: to hate, detest (60×)G5479 1. (59×)G1680 1. (53×)H8130 2. Qal ptcp: hater, enemy (53×)H0014 1. be willing, want (51×)H0157 2. lover, friend (Qal participle substantive) (51×)H1945 1. woe (50×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
μέριμν-α, ἡ, care, thought, solicitude, ὅν τε θαμιναὶ ἐπιστρωφῶσι μέριμναι Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. τινός care for.., Refs 5th c.BC+: plural, cares, Refs 8th c.BC+—Rare in early Prose, Refs 5th c.BC+; μ. καὶ φροντίςNT+2nd c.AD+ __2 concrete, object of care or thought, μεγάλην σε πατὴρ ἐφύτευσε μ. θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποισι Refs __3 pursuit, ambition, especially in plural, Refs 5th c.BC+ __4 Κηΐα μ. the Cean…