The sluggard will not plow ¹  during the planting season, ²  so at harvest time he looks ³  for the crop ⁴  but has nothing.

At that time ¹  a man will keep alive a young cow from the herd and a couple of goats.

This also comes from the Lord who commands armies, who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. ¹ 

The land of Judah will be inhabited by people who live in its towns as well as by farmers and shepherds with their flocks. ¹ 

Philip and Bartholomew; ¹  Thomas ²  and Matthew the tax collector; ³  James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ 

He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground.

And when the grain is ripe, he sends in the sickle ¹  because the harvest has come.” ² 

“Two men went up ¹  to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee ²  and the other a tax collector. ³ 

Now ¹  a man named Zacchaeus was there; he was a chief tax collector ²  and was rich.

But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is useless and about to be cursed; ¹  its fate is to be burned.

Because of Israel’s sins ¹  this is what the Lord, the God who commands armies, the sovereign One, ²  says: “In all the squares there will be wailing, in all the streets they will mourn the dead. ³  They will tell the field workers ⁴  to lament and the professional mourners ⁵  to wail.

As when one plows and breaks up the soil, ¹  so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

They ¹  utter empty words, ²  taking ³  false oaths and making empty ⁴  agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds ⁵  in the furrows of a plowed field.

He said, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So ¹  the slaves replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’

He gave ¹  them another parable: ²  “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ³  that a man took and sowed in his field.

He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

After ¹  this, Jesus ²  went out and saw a tax collector ³  named Levi ⁴  sitting at the tax booth. ⁵  “Follow me,” ⁶  he said to him.

So he went and worked for ¹  one of the citizens of that country, who ²  sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ³ 

My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously ¹  will also reap generously.

For the ground that has soaked up the rain that frequently falls on ¹  it and yields useful vegetation for those who tend it receives a blessing from God.