You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your mighty men,
Parallel translations
- WEB You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.
- KJV Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.
- NKJV You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, Because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men.
- NASB You have plowed wickedness, you have harvested injustice, You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your many warriors,
- NLT “But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies— trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe.
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
Israel reaped the bitter harvest of its own wickedness because it trusted in deceit and military strength instead of God. It warns that misplaced trust yields ruin.
Overview
In direct contrast to the call to sow righteousness, Israel had sown wickedness and lived on lies. Their confidence rested in their own way and their warriors rather than in the Lord. The principle that one reaps what one sows runs through Scripture and exposes the futility of trusting human power over the living God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 4:8As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
- Gal 6:7–8Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Prov 1:31So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
- Prov 22:8He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Hos 8:7For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
- Prov 18:20–21From the fruit of his mouth a man’s belly is filled; with the harvest from his lips he is satisfied.
- Ps 62:10Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
- Ps 52:7“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”
- Prov 19:5A false witness will not go unpunished, and one who utters lies will not escape.
- Hos 7:3They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.
- Eccl 9:11I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.
- Prov 12:19Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
- Ps 33:16No king is saved by his vast army; no warrior is delivered by his great strength.
- Hos 11:12Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.
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Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 10:13 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
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