Though I scatter ¹  them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places – they and their children will sprout forth and return.

Then I will plant her as my own ¹  in the land. I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he ²  will say, ‘You are ³  my God!’”

“You are also to observe ¹  the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year ²  when you have gathered in ³  your harvest ⁴  out of the field.

But his master answered, ¹  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?

Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. ¹  For a person ²  will reap what he sows,

For the land where you are headed ¹  is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand ²  like a vegetable garden.

The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; ¹  the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear ²  in the day of disease and incurable pain.

My people will sow wheat, but will harvest weeds. ¹  They will work until they are exhausted, but will get nothing from it. They will be disappointed in their harvests ²  because the Lord will take them away in his fierce anger. ³ 

because the person who sows to his own flesh ¹  will reap corruption ²  from the flesh, ³  but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

You must be certain to tithe ¹  all the produce of your seed that comes from the field year after year.

“You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it.

The wicked person ¹  earns ²  deceitful wages, ³  but the one who sows ⁴  righteousness reaps ⁵  a genuine ⁶  reward. ⁷ 

And the fruit that consists of righteousness ¹  is planted ²  in peace among ³  those who make peace.

The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag ¹  of seed, will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain. ² 

“‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it, ¹  a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver. ² 

For you ignore ¹  the God who rescues you; you pay no attention to your strong protector. ²  So this is what happens: You cultivate beautiful plants and plant exotic vines. ³ 

Kill all the farmers who sow the seed in the land of Babylon. Kill all those who wield the sickle at harvest time. ¹  Let all the foreigners return to their own people. Let them hurry back to their own lands to escape destruction by that enemy army. ² 

I will attack them like a bear robbed of her cubs – I will rip open their chests. I will devour them there like a lion – like a wild animal would tear them apart.