'Cultivate' in the Bible
Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”
And Noah began to farm and cultivate the ground and he planted a vineyard.
Joseph said to the people, "Since I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Cultivate the land.
You will plant and cultivate vineyards but not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them.
You and your sons and your servants shall cultivate the land for him, and you shall bring in the produce so that your master’s grandson may have food; nevertheless Mephibosheth your master’s grandson shall eat at my table regularly.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
Trust in the Lord and do good;Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
He causes grass to grow for the livestockand provides crops for man to cultivate,producing food from the earth,
Do not devise evil against your neighbor,Who lives securely beside you.
For you ignore the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines.
"Cultivate your land like the Nile, you daughter of Tarshish; for there is no longer a harbor.
Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
But the nation which will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation I will let remain on its own land,” says the Lord, “to cultivate it and live in it.”’”
The city’s workers from all the tribes of Israel will cultivate it.
For through the authority graciously given to me I warn every individual among you not to value himself unduly, but to cultivate sobriety of judgement in accordance with the amount of faith which God has allotted to each one.
Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.
But earnestly desire and strive for the greater gifts [if acquiring them is going to be your goal].And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one of the choicest graces and the highest of them all: unselfish love].
Pursue [this] love [with eagerness, make it your goal], yet earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual gifts [to be used by believers for the benefit of the church], but especially that you may prophesy [to foretell the future, to speak a new message from God to the people].
So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ].
Practice and work hard on these things; be absorbed in them [completely occupied in your ministry], so that your progress will be evident to all.