Blessed are those who sow beside abundant waters, who let the ox and donkey range freely.
Parallel translations
- WEB Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
- KJV Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
- NKJV Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, Who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.
- NASB How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters, Who let the ox and the donkey out freely.
- NLT the Lord will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
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
Blessed are those who sow by the waters, freely sending out their ox and donkey. It matters because it pictures the abundant, secure flourishing of God's blessed people.
Overview
The chapter ends with a beatitude on those who sow beside abundant waters with their working animals free to roam. The image conveys peaceful prosperity and fruitful labor. It depicts the blessed life under God's renewing Spirit, a foretaste of the flourishing God grants His people in the age of the righteous King.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eccl 11:1Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.
- Isa 30:23–24Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
- Isa 55:10–11For 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,
- Acts 2:41Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.
- Isa 19:5–7The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty.
- 1 Cor 3:6I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.
- 1 Cor 9:9–11For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
- Acts 4:4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
- Acts 5:14Yet more and more believers were brought to the Lord—large numbers of both men and women.
- Jas 3:18Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 32:20 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 Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.