Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
- KJV And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
- BSB Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.
- NKJV And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
- NLT The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike!
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
Both sower and reaper share in the joy of gathering people into eternal life. Gospel work is a shared, rejoicing labor.
Overview
Jesus describes evangelism as a harvest yielding 'fruit to eternal life,' with reward for faithful workers. Sower and reaper rejoice together, showing that God's saving work involves many laborers cooperating across time. The verse dignifies every part in the spread of the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jas 5:19–20Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
- 1 Cor 3:5–9Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
- Rom 1:13Now I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.
- Prov 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.
- 2 Tim 4:7–8I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
- Dan 12:3Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
- Rom 6:22But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.
- Phil 2:15–16that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
- 1 Cor 9:19–23For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
- 1 Tim 4:16Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
- 1 Th 2:19For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 4:36 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.