John 4:37

Green's Literal Translation

For in this the word is true, that another is the one sowing, and another the one reaping.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
It is true when we say, ‘One person plants, but another person harvests the crop.'

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And herin is the sayinge true yt one soweth and another repeth.

Hebrew Names Version
For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'

International Standard Version
For in this respect the saying is true: 'One person sows, and another person harvests.'Micah 6:15">[fn]

New American Standard Bible
"For in this case the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'

New Century Version
Here the saying is true, ‘One person plants, and another harvests.'

Update Bible Version
For in this is the saying true, One sows, and another reaps.

Webster's Bible Translation
And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

English Standard Version
For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.'

World English Bible
For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.'

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

Weymouth's New Testament
For it is in this that you see the real meaning of the saying, `The sower is one person, and the reaper is another.'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In this thing is the word trewe, for anothir is that sowith, and anothir that repith.

English Revised Version
For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

Berean Standard Bible
For in this case the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true.

Contemporary English Version
So the saying proves true, "Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop."

Amplified Bible
"For in this case the saying is true, 'One [person] sows and another reaps.'

American Standard Version
For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

Bible in Basic English
In this the saying is a true one, One does the planting, and another gets in the grain.

Complete Jewish Bible
for in this matter, the proverb, ‘One sows and another reaps,' holds true.

Darby Translation
For in this is [verified] the true saying, It is one who sows and another who reaps.

Etheridge Translation
For in this is the proverb true, One soweth, and another reapeth. [fn]

Murdock Translation
For in this, is the proverb true, that one is the sower, and another the reaper.

King James Version (1611)
And herein is that saying true: One soweth, and another reapeth.

New Living Translation
You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.' And it's true.

New Life Bible
These words are true, ‘One man plants and another man gathers.'

New Revised Standard
For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
For herein is the saying true, that one soweth, and an other reapeth.

George Lamsa Translation
For in this case the saying is true, One sows and another reaps.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, herein, doth the saying, hold good, - One, is the sower, and, another, is the reaper.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For in this is the saying true: That it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth.

Revised Standard Version
For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And herein is the saying true, that one soweth, and another reapeth.

Good News Translation
For the saying is true, ‘Someone plants, someone else reaps.'

Christian Standard Bible®
For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’

King James Version
And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

Lexham English Bible
For in this instance the saying is true, ‘It is one who sows and another who reaps.'

Young's Literal Translation
for in this the saying is the true one, that one is the sower and another the reaper.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For herin is the prouerbe true: One soweth, another reapeth.

Mace New Testament (1729)
upon this occasion, that saying is verified, "one soweth, and another reapeth."

New English Translation
For in this instance the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.'

New King James Version
For in this the saying is true: "One sows and another reaps.'

Simplified Cowboy Version
You know that saying that goes, 'One cowboy calves 'em out and another brands 'em.' And that is the truth.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.'

Legacy Standard Bible
For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.'

Contextual Overview

²⁷ And on this, His disciples came and marveled that He was speaking with a woman. However, no one said, What do You seek? Or, Why do You speak with her? ²⁸ Then the woman left her waterpot and went away into the city and said to the men, ²⁹ Come, see a Man who told me all things, whatever I did. Is this One not the Christ? ³⁰ Therefore, they went out of the city and came to Him. ³¹ But in the meantime the disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, eat? ³² But He said to them, I have food to eat which you do not know. ³³ Then the disciples said to one another, No one brought Him food to eat? ³⁴ Jesus said to them, My food is that I should do the will of Him who sent Me, and that I may finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, It is yet four months and the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest. ³⁶ And the one reaping receives reward, and gathers fruit to everlasting life, so that both the one sowing and the one reaping may rejoice together.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

One: Judges 6:3, Micah 6:15, Luke 19:21

Reciprocal: Judges 8:3 - God 1 Chronicles 22:5 - David prepared

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And herein is that saying true,.... This verifies that proverbial expression so much in use, and which may be applied to different persons and cases:

one soweth, and another reapeth; the prophets sowed, and the apostles reaped.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That saying - That proverb. This proverb is found in some of the Greek writers (Grotius). Similar proverbs were in use among the Jews. See Isaiah 65:21-22; Leviticus 26:16; Micah 6:15.

One soweth ... - One man may preach the gospel, and with little apparent effect; another, succeeding him, may be crowned with eminent success. The seed, long buried, may spring up in an abundant harvest.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 37. Herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. — Or, One is the sower, and another is the reaper. In what respects you, of this business, this proverb is true-One is the sower, c., for I have sent you to reap, to preach my Gospel, and gain converts, where ye have not laboured-have not sown the first seeds of eternal life. Others have laboured-the patriarchs and prophets, and ye are entered into the fruits of their labours. They announced the Messiah who was to come, and the expectation of the people was excited, and they longed for his appearance but they were gathered to their fathers before they could see the fruit of their labour. You are come to tell the people that the kingdom of God is among them, and that God has visited his people.

The proverb which our Lord mentions above was taken from what ordinarily happens in the course of the Divine providence, where one takes a great deal of pains to procure that of which another reaps the benefit. See instances of this proverb, Leviticus 26:16: Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. Micah 6:15: Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but not anoint thee with the oil. See also Hosea 7:9. The Greeks had the same proverb: Αλλοι μεν σπερουσι, αλλοι δ'αν αμησονται. So had the Latins: Aliis leporem excitasti. You have beat the bush, and another has found the hare. See the famous verses of Virgil beginning with, Sic vos non vobis, in which the fowls, the sheep, the bees, and the oxen, are elegantly brought in as illustrations of the propriety of the proverb.

Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves.

Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves.

Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes.

Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.

So you, ye birds, of wondrous skill possest,

Not for yourselves construct the curious nest.

So you, ye sheep, who roam the verdant field,

Not for yourselves your snowy fleeces yield,

So you, ye bees, who every flower explore,

Not for yourselves amass the honied store.

So you, ye patient kine, inured to toil,

Not for yourselves subdue the stubborn soil!

Bishop Pearce gives this text a remarkable turn. The verse he translates thus: I sent you away, that ye might reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour; i.e. I did not send you to the city (John 4:8) for this purpose only, that ye might buy meat; but I sent you away chiefly with this intent, that there might be a harvest for you to reap upon your return; though you sowed no seed, and bestowed no labour for that purpose. While you were gone, I sowed spiritual seed in the heart of a Samaritan woman; and she is gone, and is about to return with many of her city, whom she has brought to believe, (John 4:39-42.) These, and the many more which will believe upon hearing my doctrine, (John 4:41,) will all be a harvest arising out of the seed which I sowed in your absence, and on which, therefore, ye bestowed no labour. He farther adds, that the Greek θεριζειν, stands for του θεριζειν, and such expressions are often used to signify, not the end and design, but the event only. Pearce's Comment.