'Sow' in the Bible

Then Joseph said to the people, “Look, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you shall plant the land.

“You shall sow your land six years and harvest its yield,

Also [you shall observe] the Feast of Harvest (Weeks, Pentecost, or First Fruits), acknowledging the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. And [third] the Feast of Ingathering (Booths or Tabernacles) at the end of the year when you gather in [the fruit of] your labors from the field.

‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear clothing of two kinds of material mixed together.

For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop.

But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow [seed in] your field nor prune your vineyard.

That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you; you shall not sow [seed], nor reap what reseeds itself, nor gather the grapes of the uncultivated vines.

And if you say, “What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow [seed] or gather in our crops?”

When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crops, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in.

I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to languish also. And you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat what you plant.

‘Then this shall be the sign [of these things] to you [Hezekiah]: this year you will eat what grows of itself, in the second year what springs up voluntarily, and in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

“As I have seen, those who plow wickednessAnd those who sow trouble and harm harvest it.

Then let me plant and [let] another eat [from the results of my labor],And let my crops be uprooted and ruined.

And sow fields and plant vineyards,And produce an abundant harvest.

They who sow in tears shall reap with joyful singing.

He who watches the wind [waiting for all conditions to be perfect] will not sow [seed], and he who looks at the clouds will not reap [a harvest].

Sow your seed in the morning and do not be idle with your hands in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening planting will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Then He will give you rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread [grain] from the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful. In that day your livestock will graze in large and roomy pastures.

“This shall be the sign [of these things] to you [Hezekiah]: you are to eat this year what grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from the same, and in the third year you are to sow and harvest, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,“Plow your uncultivated ground [for a season],And do not sow among thorns.

“Behold (listen carefully), the days are coming,” says the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

Nor shall you build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard or own one; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners (temporary residents).’

“I will sow her for Myself in the land.I will also have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;And I will say to those who were not My people,‘You are My people,’And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

For they sow the wind [in evil]And they reap the whirlwind [in disaster].The standing grain has no growth;It yields no grain.If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it up.

Sow with a view to righteousness [that righteousness, like seed, may germinate];Reap in accordance with mercy and lovingkindness.Break up your uncultivated ground,For it is time to seek and search diligently for the Lord [and to long for His blessing]Until He comes to rain righteousness and His gift of salvation on you.

“You shall sow but you shall not reap;You shall tread olives, but shall not anoint yourself with oil,And [you will extract juice from] the grapes, but you shall not drink the wine.

“When I scatter them among the nations,They will remember Me in far countries,And with their children they will live and come back [to Me and the land I gave them].

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?

He told them many things in parables, saying, “Listen carefully: a sower went out to sow [seed in his field];

The servants of the owner came to him and said, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have weeds in it?’

“The one who had received one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a harsh and demanding man, reaping [the harvest] where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter seed.

“Listen! A sower went out to sow seed;

“The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it up.

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the crop]; they have no storehouse or barn, and yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

I was [always] afraid of you, because you are a stern man; you pick up what you did not lay down and you reap what you did not sow.’

He said to the servant, ‘I will judge and condemn you by your own words, you worthless servant! Did you [really] know that I was a stern man, picking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

You fool! Every time you plant seed you sow something that does not come to life [germinating, springing up and growing] unless it first dies.

The seed you sow is not the body (the plant) which it is going to become, but it is a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or some other grain.

The thing spoken of in the true proverb has happened to them, “The dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “A sow is washed only to wallow [again] in the mire.”