Dictionary of Bible Themes  »  4000 Creation  »  4400 Vegetation and food  »  4510 sowing and reaping

OT references are mainly agricultural with regulatory laws covering crop production and festivals of thanksgiving. God's blessing was reflected in the harvest. The NT refers more to the spiritual sowing and reaping that takes place in the kingdom of God.

Regulations concerning the sowing and reaping of crops

Laws of purity related to planting

Leviticus 19:23-25; Deuteronomy 22:9

Reapers are to leave gleanings for the poor

Leviticus 19:9-10; Leviticus 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19; Ruth 2:2-3,15-16

Harvest celebrations

Exodus 23:16 See also Leviticus 23:9-11,39-41; Deuteronomy 16:9-10,13-15

The Sabbath-rest for the land and its cultivators

Exodus 23:10-11; Exodus 34:21; Leviticus 25:3-5,11

Reaping a good harvest is a blessing from God

It is a consequence of obedience

Genesis 26:12; Leviticus 25:18-22; Leviticus 26:3-5,10

It is a promise to the remnant of God's people

Amos 9:13-14 See also Isaiah 30:23; Isaiah 62:8-9; Isaiah 65:21-22; Jeremiah 31:5; Zechariah 8:11-12

God's judgment on Israel is reflected in reaping a poor harvest

A poor yield of crops

Leviticus 26:18-20; Deuteronomy 28:15,38-40; Isaiah 5:10; Isaiah 17:10-11; Jeremiah 8:13; Jeremiah 12:13; Haggai 1:6,10-11

The harvesting of one's crops by others

Leviticus 26:15-16 See also Nehemiah 9:36-37; Job 31:7-8; Jeremiah 5:17; Micah 6:15

Proverbs and poems of sowing and harvest

Proverbs 10:5; Proverbs 20:4; Isaiah 28:23-29

Moral and spiritual sowing and reaping

Good and evil

Job 4:8 See also Proverbs 11:18; Proverbs 22:8; Hosea 8:7; Hosea 10:12-13; Galatians 6:7-8; James 3:18

Sowing and reaping in the kingdom of God

Mark 4:3-8 pp Matthew 13:3-8 pp Luke 8:5-8 See also Matthew 13:18-23 pp Mark 4:14-20 pp Luke 8:11-15; Matthew 13:24-30,37-39; Mark 4:26-29

The certainty of reaping

Psalm 126:5-6; Galatians 6:9

Reaping where others have sown

See also John 4:35-38; Romans 1:13; 1 Corinthians 3:5-9

Reaping a material harvest from spiritual sowing

1 Corinthians 9:9-11

People and nations are reaped for judgment

Joel 3:13 See also Jeremiah 51:33; Hosea 6:11; Revelation 14:15-19

Metaphorical use of sowing and reaping

Isaiah 5:1-7; Isaiah 17:4-6; Jeremiah 2:3,21; 1 Corinthians 15:35-44; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

See also

4406  agriculture
4412  binding corn
4430  crops
4454  gleaning
4464  harvest
4468  horticulture
4498  ploughing
4506  seed
4508  sickle
5903  maturity, physical
7354  feasts and festivals
8257  fruitfulness, natural