Ἰωάννην 4:37

Greek Modern Translation

Διοτι κατα τουτο αληθευει ο λογος, οτι αλλος ειναι ο σπειρων και αλλος ο θεριζων.

Parallel Translations

SBL Greek New Testament (2010)
ἐν γὰρ τούτῳ ὁ λόγος ⸀ἐστὶν ἀληθινὸς ὅτι Ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων·

Tischendorf 8th Edition
ἐν γὰρ τούτῳ ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν ἀληθινός, ὅτι ἄλλος ἐστὶν ὁ σπείρων καὶ ἄλλος ὁ θερίζων.

Textus Receptus (1550/1894)
εν γας τουτω ο λογος εστιν ο ο αληθινος οτι αλλος εστιν ο σπειρων και αλλος ο θεριζων

Westcott/Hort UBS4 (1881)
εν γαρ τουτω ο λογος εστιν αληθινος οτι αλλος εστιν ο σπειρων και αλλος ο θεριζων

Byzantine/Majority Text
εν γας τουτω ο λογος εστιν ο αληθινος οτι αλλος εστιν ο σπειρων και αλλος ο θεριζων

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.