What does μέριμνα (mérimna) mean in the Bible?
μέριμνα (mérimna): Anxiety that divides attention away from what matters most, especially spiritual priorities.
Greek · G3308
μέριμνα
Solicitude
Reading a lexicon entry
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μέριμναG3308
Pronunciationmérimna
What does μέριμνα (mérimna) mean in the Bible?
μέριμνα (mérimna): Anxiety that divides attention away from what matters most, especially spiritual priorities.
Full entry for μέριμνα (G3308) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3308?
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [the] worries (2), worries (2), anxiety (1), concern (1).
Where does μέριμνα (mérimna) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:22. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (2), 1 Peter (1), 2 Corinthians (1), Mark (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It[the] worries2×Luke 8:14, Luke 21:34
worries2×Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:19
anxiety1×1 Peter 5:7
concern1×2 Corinthians 11:28
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 13:22μέριμναtoworriesNoun - Nominative Feminine SingularMark 4:19μέριμναιtoworriesNoun - Nominative Feminine PluralLuke 8:14μεριμνῶνto[the] worriesNoun - Genitive Feminine PluralLuke 21:34μερίμναιςto[the] worriesNoun - Dative Feminine Plural2 Corinthians 11:28μέριμναtoconcernNoun - Nominative Feminine Singular1 Peter 5:7μέριμνανtoanxietyNoun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowMatthew 13:22
Aligned rows6
Books represented5
Matthew1Mark1Luke22 Corinthians11 Peter1
Source forms
μέριμνα2xmerimnaMatthew 13:22, 2 Corinthians 11:28
μέριμναι1xmerimnaiMark 4:19
μερίμναις1xmerimnaisLuke 21:34
μέριμναν1xmerimnan1 Peter 5:7
μεριμνῶν1xmerimnōnLuke 8:14
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular2xMatthew 13:22, 2 Corinthians 11:28
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular1x1 Peter 5:7
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural1xLuke 21:34
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural1xLuke 8:14
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural1xMark 4:19
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Anxiety that divides attention away from what matters most, especially spiritual priorities.
Strong'sG3308
Lexical occurrences6 versesGreek text appearances6 timesWord forms5 forms6 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study link1 Peter 5:5-11Source Gloss
solicitude
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Matthew 13:22Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
μέριμναmerimna
care, worry, anxiety
Read verseMark 4:19Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
μέριμναιmerimnai
care, worry, anxiety
Read verseLuke 8:14Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
μεριμνῶνmerimnwn
care, worry, anxiety
Read verseLuke 21:34Noun Dative Plural Feminine
μερίμναιςmerimnaiv
care, worry, anxiety
Read verse2 Corinthians 11:28Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
μέριμναmerimna
care, worry, anxiety
Read verse1 Peter 5:7Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
μέριμνανmerimnan
care, worry, anxiety
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 5 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Form patterns5Aligned forms6Case patternNominative (3)Number patternPlural (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · FeminineMatt 13:22 · 2 Cor 11:282×
Nominative · Plural · FeminineMark 4:191×
Genitive · Plural · FeminineLuke 8:141×
Dative · Plural · FeminineLuke 21:341×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine1 Pet 5:71×
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
care, worry, concern
Showing 1 selected witness from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
μέριμνα is built from this root:
Why This Word Matters
Encourages deliberate entrusting of burdens to God’s faithful care.1 Peter 5:5-11
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.