Bible Strands
1 Timothy 6:8
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to Timothy, instructing him on conduct within the household of God. The statement follows the observation that human life begins with nothing and ends with nothing.
The words — ἀρκεσθησόμεθα (arkesthēsometha) translates literally to "we will be content." διατροφὰς (diatrophas) means "sustenance" or food.
The thread — The command to reject anxiety over provisions echoes the teaching in Matthew 6:25 and Matthew 6:11. The assurance of God’s presence with the content believer parallels Hebrews 13:5.
Why it lands — The text demands acceptance of basic provisions without demanding excess. It requires readers to treat sufficiency as a complete boundary rather than a starting point for accumulation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
- Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Proverbs 30:8 Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.
- Deuteronomy 2:7 Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
- Ecclesiastes 3:12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live,
- Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
- Proverbs 27:23 Be sure to know the state of your flocks, and pay close attention to your herds;
- Ecclesiastes 2:24 Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God.