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
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μέριμνα G3308
Pronunciation mérimna
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] worries 2× Luke 8:14, Luke 21:34
worries 2× Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:19
anxiety 1× 1 Peter 5:7
concern 1× 2 Corinthians 11:28
Show sample aligned rows
Matthew 13:22 μέριμνα to worries Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Mark 4:19 μέριμναι to worries Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural Luke 8:14 μεριμνῶν to [the] worries Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural Luke 21:34 μερίμναις to [the] worries Noun - Dative Feminine Plural 2 Corinthians 11:28 μέριμνα to concern Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 1 Peter 5:7 μέριμναν to anxiety Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Matthew 13:22
Aligned rows 6
Books represented 5
Matthew 1 Mark 1 Luke 2 2 Corinthians 1 1 Peter 1
Source forms
μέριμνα 2x merimna Matthew 13:22, 2 Corinthians 11:28
μέριμναι 1x merimnai Mark 4:19
μερίμναις 1x merimnais Luke 21:34
μέριμναν 1x merimnan 1 Peter 5:7
μεριμνῶν 1x merimnōn Luke 8:14
Parsing patterns
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular 2x Matthew 13:22, 2 Corinthians 11:28
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular 1x 1 Peter 5:7
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural 1x Luke 21:34
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural 1x Luke 8:14
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural 1x Mark 4:19
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Anxiety that divides attention away from what matters most, especially spiritual priorities.
Strong's G3308
Lexical occurrences 6 verses Greek text appearances 6 times Word forms 5 forms 6 references Verse guides 0 guides
Study link 1 Peter 5:5-11 Source Gloss
solicitude
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek 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 13:22 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
μέριμνα merimna
care, worry, anxiety
Read verse Mark 4:19 Noun Nominative Plural Feminine
μέριμναι merimnai
care, worry, anxiety
Read verse Luke 8:14 Noun Genitive Plural Feminine
μεριμνῶν merimnwn
care, worry, anxiety
Read verse Luke 21:34 Noun Dative Plural Feminine
μερίμναις merimnaiv
care, worry, anxiety
Read verse 2 Corinthians 11:28 Noun Nominative Singular Feminine
μέριμνα merimna
care, worry, anxiety
Read verse 1 Peter 5:7 Noun Accusative Singular Feminine
μέριμναν merimnan
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 patterns 5 Aligned forms 6 Case pattern Nominative (3) Number pattern Plural (3)
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Nominative · Singular · Feminine Matt 13:22 · 2 Cor 11:28 2×
Nominative · Plural · Feminine Mark 4:19 1×
Genitive · Plural · Feminine Luke 8:14 1×
Dative · Plural · Feminine Luke 21:34 1×
Accusative · Singular · Feminine 1 Pet 5:7 1×
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.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain