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All KJV Words

Archaic KJV Word

Take No Thought

Modern equivalent: do not worry

What Was Lost

The distinction between thinking and worrying. 'Take no thought for the morrow' did not prohibit planning or foresight but the anxious, tormenting, consuming worry that devours the present moment. 'Thought' in this sense was mental suffering -- being taken captive by anxiety about tomorrow. Jesus prohibited worry, not wisdom.

Closest Survivor in Modern English

careworn (worn by care/thought -- the anxiety meaning of 'thought' fossilized)

Peak Usage (1611)

KJV Matthew 6:25 -- 'Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat'; Matthew 6:34 -- 'Take therefore no thought for the morrow'

Died ~1750

'Take thought' shifted from 'be anxious/worry/be tormented with care' (Old English meaning tied to anxiety) to 'consider/think about,' making Jesus's command against anxiety sound like a command against planning.

What Replaced It

do not worry

Modern and flat; 'take no thought' carried the weight of the Greek merimnao -- to be torn apart by anxiety

do not be anxious

Clinical; the KJV phrase conveyed the active, consuming nature of worry -- thought that takes you, seizes you

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