The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.
Parallel translations
- WEB The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops.
- KJV The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
- BSB The hardworking farmer should be the first to partake of the crops.
- NKJV The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.
- NLT And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The hardworking farmer should be first to receive a share of the crops. Diligent labor in ministry is met in due time with its reward.
Overview
The third image, the farmer, emphasizes patient, sustained toil before the harvest comes. As the laborer rightly shares in the fruit, so faithful ministers can expect God's reward for their diligence. Together the soldier, athlete, and farmer call Timothy to focused, disciplined, and persevering service.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Cor 9:7–11What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?
- Heb 10:36For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
- 1 Cor 3:6–9I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.
- Luke 10:2Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest.
- John 4:35–38Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.
- 1 Cor 9:23Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
- Isa 28:24–26Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?
- Matt 9:37–38Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
- Matt 20:1“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
- Matt 21:33–41“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ Jesus 'abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel' — the risen Lord whose word and kingdom endure to the end.
How 2 Timothy 2:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.