Matthew 6:27 (YLT)

Passage

`And who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit?

Nearby Context

Matthew 6:25 `Because of this I say to you, be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat, and what ye may drink, nor for your body, what ye may put on. Is not the life more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing?

Matthew 6:26 look to the fowls of the heaven, for they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into storehouses, and your heavenly Father doth nourish them; are not ye much better than they?

Matthew 6:27 `And who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit?

Matthew 6:28 and about clothing why are ye anxious? consider well the lilies of the field; how do they grow? they do not labour, nor do they spin;

Matthew 6:29 and I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "anxious", "able", and "cubit". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "anxious" and "able", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 26's "look to the fowls of the heaven..." into verse 28's "and about clothing why are ye anxious...", so "anxious" and "able" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "anxious" and "able" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.