Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. х Merimnate (G3309)] 'Be anxious about nothing' (Matthew 6:25). Care and prayer are as mutually opposed as fire and water (Bengel).
By prayer and supplication - `by your х tee (G3588): the] prayer and your (the) supplication,' as each case requires. х Proseuchee (G4335)] Prayer for blessings; the general term. х Deeesis (G1162)] Supplication to avert ill; a special term, suppliant entreaty (note, Ephesians 6:18).
Thanksgiving - for every event, prosperity and affliction alike (1 Thessalonians 5:18; 1 Timothy 2:1). The Philippians might remember Paul's example at Philippi in the innermost prison (Acts 16:25). Thanksgiving gives effect to prayer (2 Chronicles 20:21), and frees from anxious carefulness, by making all God's dealings matter for praise, not merely for resignation, much less murmuring. "Peace" is the companion of "thanksgiving" (Philippians 4:7; Colossians 3:15).
Let your requests be made known unto God - with filial, unreserved confidence; not keeping anything back, as too great or too small to bring before God, though you might feel so as to your fellow- men So Jacob, fearing Esau (Genesis 32:9-12); Hezekiah, fearing Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:14; Psalms 37:5).