Sowing and reaping is both natural and spiritual. Farmers plant seeds and reap crops. Humans can plant tears and reap joy (Psalm 126:5). A person who sows injustice will reap calamity (Proverbs 22:8). Saint Paul stated that we reap what we sow. Jim Rohn, using the Commutative Law, indicates that what we reap is a direct reflection of what we’ve sown.
The law of sowing and reaping is immutable. Fight it at your own peril. It’s also unemotional. The law couldn’t care less if life has been difficult. It’s scientific and objective. Sowing and reaping works for whosoever.
Sowing and reaping works on farms, and on hearts, minds, and relationships.
Here are a few dozen of my favorite bible verses about sowing and reaping.
Sowing and Reaping In The Old Testament
Genesis 1:12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
We can’t plant marshmallows and expect to harvest corn. God designed seeds to reproduce after their kind.
Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
We will operate in the planting and reaping mode so long as the earth endures.
Genesis 26:12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold because the Lord blessed him.
We reap more than we plant, in most instances. A peach pit was once used to start a new tree. Eventually, that tree produced peaches for many years.
Leviticus 25:11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.
Here is a great reaffirmation that if we don’t sow then we can’t reap.
Job 4:8 As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
We’re introduced to a type of sowing and reaping that is not agricultural.
Sowing and Reaping In Psalms and Proverbs
Psalm 107:37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest.
Psalm 126:5 Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
Here is a great article on joy that you should read!
Proverbs 11:18 A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.
Another reminder that sowing and reaping is spiritual as well as natural.
Proverbs 22:8 Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.
Ecclesiastes 11:4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
Get off the sidelines! If you don’t sow you can’t reap.
Ecclesiastes 11:6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.
Not every seed grows to maturity. In the parable of the sower (soils) the majority of the seeds didn’t bear fruit. We plant anyway.
Sowing and Reaping in the Prophets
Isaiah 55:10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater.
Jeremiah 12:13 They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. They will bear the shame of their harvest because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
The earth is cursed because of the Fall. This verse does not contradict Genesis 1:12. It simply informs us that the curse is active and that we are constantly battling it.
Hosea 8:7 They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.
When we sow bad and ugly we reap a terrible harvest.
Hosea 10:12-13 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors,
Amos 9:13 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills.”
One day the cycle of sowing and reaping will defy natural law.
New Testament Bible Verses About Sowing and Reaping
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
John 4:36-37 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.
I Corinthians 9:11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
Paul is making a case for financial help to ministers. Be generous!
I Corinthians 15:36 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?
II Corinthians 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Contextually, the verse is about financial giving. Paul connects the law of sowing and reaping to our generosity. The law of reciprocity is legit. However, he also indicates other intangible and non-monetary benefits.
II Corinthians 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
We reap what we sow.
Galatians 6:8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
James 3:18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Sowing and reaping is a vast subject. Take some time and do a deep dive into this fascinating subject.
Blessings!!