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.
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.
- BSB 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,
- 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 4:8According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
- Gal 6:7–8Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
- Prov 1:31Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.
- Prov 22:8He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Hos 8:7For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.
- Prov 18:20–21A man’s stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.
- Ps 62:10Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
- Ps 52:7“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
- Prov 19:5A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who pours out lies shall not go free.
- Hos 7:3They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
- Eccl 9:11I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
- Prov 12:19Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.
- Ps 33:16There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
- Hos 11:12Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit. Judah still strays from God, and is unfaithful 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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