In the King James Version of the Holy Bible the word CAREFUL occurs 7 times in 7 verses. It is translated from 2 different Hebrew words and 1 Aramaic word in the Old Testament, and 3 different Greek words in the New. Let us now examine the NEW TESTAMENT scriptures and their meanings to see how they apply to us today. You can view the post about the OLD TESTAMENT by clicking the link.

New Testament
Luke 10:41 ~ “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:”

CAREFUL is translated from the Greek word MERIMNAO (Strong’s G3309). In this scripture it means: To be anxious about nothing (and disquieted in mind THORYBAZO-G5182 about many things). 

Martha and Mary were sisters and Martha invited Jesus to her house. While Martha was busy serving Jesus in the way that you serve a guest in your house, Mary was sitting at His feet listening to Him talk. Martha then complained to Jesus saying: (my paraphrase) “Lord you don’t care that Mary left me to serve alone, tell her to help me!” Jesus told Martha that she was anxious about nothing and disturbed by many things. She should have been at his feet listening as well, instead of being busy making such a fuss over Him.

Philippians 4:6 ~ “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

CAREFUL is translated from the Greek word MERIMNAO (Strong’s G3309). In this scripture it means: To be anxious about nothing.

Here we are urged to be anxious about nothing, for nothing. In this instance the alternatives to being anxious are: tell God everything through prayer and ask Him for things with a thankful spirit.

Philippians 4:10 ~ “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.”

CAREFUL is translated from the Greek word PHRONEO (Strong’s G5426). Here it means: To take thought for someone; to have a care for someone.

In this letter to the Philippians the Apostle Paul said he rejoiced greatly in the Lord that they wanted to take care of him. He acknowledged that they thought about taking care of him but that they didn’t have the opportunity to do so. It is honorable to think about taking care of our teachers in the faith, even if we don’t have a chance to actually take care of them.

Titus 3:8 ~ “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” 

CAREFUL is translated from the Greek word PHRONTIZO (Strong’s G5431). Here it means: To think, to be thoughtful or anxious.

We who believe in God must be thoughtful and anxious to always do good works simply because they are good and profitable to all.