“Theysow the wind, And reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, Aliens would swallow it up.
Parallel translations
- WEB For 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.
- KJV For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
- BSB For 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.
- NASB For they sow wind And they harvest a storm. The standing grain has no kernels; It yields no grain. If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.
- NLT “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. The stalks of grain wither and produce nothing to eat. And even if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it.
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
Sowing the wind, they will reap the whirlwind; their efforts yield no harvest, and any grain is swallowed by foreigners.
Overview
This memorable proverb states the principle that sin's harvest far exceeds its seed, bringing ruin disproportionate to the act. Israel's empty, godless pursuits will produce nothing good, and what little they gain will be devoured by their enemies. The law of sowing and reaping warns every generation that what is sown to the flesh reaps corruption, while what is sown to the Spirit reaps life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 22:8He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Job 4:8According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
- Gal 6:7Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
- Nah 1:3Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
- Hos 7:9Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realize it. Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realize it.
- Judg 6:3–6So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.
- Hos 10:12–13Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.
- Hos 2:9Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
- Isa 66:15For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots will be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
- Jer 12:13They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing. You shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.”
- 2 Kgs 15:19Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul one thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand.
- 2 Kgs 15:29In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.
- 2 Kgs 13:3–7Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually.
- Deut 28:33A nation which you don’t know eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always;
- Isa 17:11In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
- Eccl 5:16This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?
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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 8:7 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
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