Do Not Worry

²⁵ ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?”³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found

²⁸‘Surely there is a mine for silver,   and a place for gold to be refined.² Iron is taken out of the earth,   and copper is smelted from ore.³ Miners put an end to darkness,   and search out to the farthest bound   the ore in gloom and deep darkness.⁴ They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;   they are forgotten by travellers,   they sway suspended, remote from people.⁵ As for the earth, out of it comes bread;   but underneath it is turned up as by fire.⁶ Its stones are the place of sapphires,    and its dust contains gold. ⁷ ‘That path no bird of prey knows,   and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.⁸ The proud wild animals have not trodden it;   the lion has not passed over it. ⁹ ‘They put their hand to the flinty rock,   and overturn mountains by the roots.¹⁰ They cut out channels in the rocks,   and their eyes see every precious thing.¹¹ The sources of the rivers they probe;    hidden things they bring to light.