The Greek noun apothēkē refers to a storehouse, barn, or granary — a place for storing agricultural produce. Jesus uses it in both his warnings against anxious accumulation and his parables about the kingdom.
Apothēkē appears in two contrasting contexts in Jesus' teaching. In the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:18), the wealthy man plans to 'tear down my barns (apothēkē) and build bigger ones' — the quintessential image of accumulating security in things that cannot satisfy. But in Matthew 6:26, Jesus points to the birds: 'They do not sow or reap or store away in barns (apothēkē), and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.' The birds' apothēkē-less existence is not poverty but trust — and is offered as a model for human anxiety management. The difference between the rich fool and the birds is not wealth, but trust.