The farmer who works hard ought to have the first share of the crops.

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 

They are dismayed because the ground is cracked ¹  because there has been no rain in the land. The farmers, too, are dismayed and bury their faces in their hands.

The sower sows the word.

I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks. I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen. I used you to smash governors and leaders.” ¹ 

Noah, a man of the soil, ¹  began to plant a vineyard. ² 

Be distressed, ¹  farmers; wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and the barley. For the harvest of the field has perished.

“So listen to the parable of the sower:

Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? ¹  Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?

So be patient, brothers and sisters, ¹  until the Lord’s return. ²  Think of how the farmer waits ³  for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient ⁴  for it until it receives the early and late rains.

“Listen! A sower went out to sow. ¹ 

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.

Instead he will say, ‘I am no prophet – indeed, I am a farmer, for a man has made me his indentured servant since my youth.’ ¹ 

He ¹  told them many things in parables, ²  saying: “Listen! ³  A sower went out to sow. ⁴ 

He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands ¹  and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, ²  for he loved agriculture. ³ 

But he ¹  left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.

But he ¹  left behind some of the poor ²  and gave them fields and vineyards.

He ¹  answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.

“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner ¹  who planted a vineyard. ²  He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then ³  he leased it to tenant farmers ⁴  and went on a journey.

Then she gave birth ¹  to his brother Abel. ²  Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground. ³