Matthew 6:28 is the twenty-eight verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 and is part of the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...

. This verse continues the discussion of worry about material provisions.

In the King James Version of the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 the text reads:

And why take ye thought for raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;

they toil not, neither do they spin:

The World English Bible

World English Bible

The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...

 translates the passage as:

Why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They don’t toil, neither do they spin,

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 6:28

Two verses earlier at Matthew 6:26

Matthew 6:26

Matthew 6:26 is the twenty-sixth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse continues the discussion of worry about material provisions...

 Jesus told his followers not to worry about food, because even the lowly birds are provided for by God. In this verse Jesus presents the example of the lilies, who also do no labour. Spin in this verse is a reference to spinning

Spinning (textiles)

Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...

 thread

Thread (yarn)

Thread is a kind of yarn used for sewing.-Materials:Thread is made from just about everything. Following table lists common materials, a general description and what they are supposed to be good for. If your machine will sew with the thread, any thread can used for just about any purpose. This...

, a labour intensive but necessary part of making clothing. Spinning was traditionally women's work, something made explicit in Luke's version of this verse. This then is one of the few pieces of evidence that Jesus' message is meant equally for women as for men.

Many varieties of flowers grow wildly and abundantly in Galilee. The translation of lilies is traditional, but far from certain. Modern scholars have proposed a number of different flowers that Jesus could be here referring to, according to Fowler these include the autumn crocus

Autumn Crocus

Autumn Crocus may refer to:*One of two species of flowering plant:** the Autumn Crocus Crocus nudiflorus** the Meadow Saffron Colchicum autumnale, which is also known as Autumn Crocus* Autumn Crocus , a 1931 play by Dodie Smith...

, scarlet poppy, Turk's cap lily, anemone coronaria

Anemone coronaria

Anemone coronaria is a species of flowering plant in the genus Anemone, native to the Mediterranean region.-Description:...

, the narcissus

Narcissus (flower)

Narcissus is a genus of mainly hardy, mostly spring-flowering, bulbs in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae, native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. There are also several Narcissus species that bloom in the autumn...

, the gladiolus

Gladiolus

Gladiolus is a genus of perennial bulbous flowering plants in the iris family...

, and the iris

Iris (plant)

Iris is a genus of 260-300species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species...

. France notes that flowers were less specifically defined in that era, and lily could be a word referring to any showy variety. The verse could also just mean flowers in general, rather than a specific variety. "In the field" implies that these are the wildflowers growing in the fields, rather than the cultivated ones growing in gardens. Harrington notes that some have read this verse as originally referring to beasts rather than flowers.

This verse is quite a well known one, appearing frequently in art and literature. Keats' "Ode on Indolence

Ode on Indolence

The "Ode on Indolence" is one of five odes composed by English poet John Keats in the spring of 1819. The others were "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Ode on Melancholy", "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode to Psyche"...

" quotes it. P.G. Wodehouse humorously uses the phrase "lilies of the field" to refer to the idle rich who do no labour. Other writers such as Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...

 and A.M. Klein have also directed the phrase at the rich and idle. There is also a famous movie by this name.