For land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is tended receives the blessing of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it, and produces a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God;
- KJV For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
- NKJV For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;
- NASB For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and produces vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;
- NLT When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing.
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
Land that drinks the rain and yields a useful crop receives God's blessing. Genuine spiritual life bears fruit and is blessed by God.
Overview
The writer illustrates his warning with an agricultural image: ground that absorbs rain and produces a beneficial harvest is blessed. This pictures the person who responds to God's grace with genuine fruitfulness. It sets up the contrast in the next verse between fruitful and worthless ground.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Hos 10:12Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.
- Isa 44:3For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
- Ps 65:9–13You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.
- Isa 55:10–13For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
- Ps 126:6He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.
- Joel 2:21–26Do not be afraid, O land; rejoice and be glad, for the LORD has done great things.
- Ps 24:5He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from the God of his salvation.
- Jas 5:7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
- Lev 25:21But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years.
- Ezek 34:26I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing.
- Ps 104:11–13They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
- Mal 3:10Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.
- Gen 27:27So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
- Deut 28:11–12The LORD will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 6:7 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.