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This is beautiful! Thank you!

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Apr 28, 2023Liked by Becky Castle Miller

Nice! I had (pleasantly) forgotten that so many people's reaction to reading this would be to talk about sin and condemnation xD

When I read this in Greek, I wonder if we can read merimnate as likely meaning don't be mentally preoccupied with something *alone*. And, like you say, in an encouraging way.

I think some older philosophical uses of merimnaw use it for meditation and individual ponderings, potentially emphasizing the "meri" part of things. Like "being separated from others, bring something to mind". I wonder if Paul is also using this verb rather than another to emphasize the "meri" part of it as well. If so, there may be a diction based argument to also support your conclusion: Paul doesn't want people to be alone with their mental burdens!

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Hey Becky, have you run into anyone advocating that merimnaō be translated as something like "burdened by carrying/responding to an issue alone/isolated"?

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