8:7 They sow the wind,
and so they will reap the whirlwind!
The stalk does not have any standing grain;
it will not produce any flour.
Even if it were to yield grain,
foreigners would swallow it all up.
126:5 Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest. 1
126:6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag 2 of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain. 3
11:18 The wicked person 4 earns 5 deceitful wages, 6
but the one who sows 7 righteousness reaps 8 a genuine 9 reward. 10
18:21 Death and life are in the power 11 of the tongue, 12
and those who love its use 13 will eat its fruit.
11:6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and do not stop working 14 until the evening; 15
for you do not know which activity 16 will succeed 17 –
whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. 18
32:20 you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, 19
you who let your ox and donkey graze. 20
1 sn O. Borowski says regarding this passage: “The dependence on rain for watering plants, the uncertainty of the quantity and timing of the rains, and the possibility of crop failure due to pests and diseases appear to have kept the farmer in a gloomy mood during sowing” (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 54). Perhaps the people were experiencing a literal drought, the effects of which cause them to lament their plight as they plant their seed in hopes that the rain would come. However, most take the language as metaphorical. Like a farmer sowing his seed, the covenant community was enduring hardship as they waited for a new outpouring of divine blessing. Yet they are confident that a time of restoration will come and relieve their anxiety, just as the harvest brings relief and joy to the farmer.
2 tn The noun occurs only here and in Job 28:18 in the OT. See HALOT 646 s.v. I מֶשֶׁךְ which gives “leather pouch” as the meaning.
3 tn The Hebrew noun אֲלֻמָּה (’alummah, “sheaf”) occurs only here and in Gen 37:7 in the OT.
4 tn The form is the masculine singular adjective used as a substantive.
5 tn Heb “makes” (so NAB).
6 tn Heb “wages of deception.”
7 sn The participle “sowing” provides an implied comparison (the figure is known as hypocatastasis) with the point of practicing righteousness and inspiring others to do the same. What is sown will yield fruit (1 Cor 9:11; 2 Cor 9:6; Jas 3:18).
8 tn The term “reaps” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context for the sake of smoothness.
9 tn Heb “true” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, NAB, NIV “sure.”
10 sn A wordplay (paronomasia) occurs between “deceptive” (שָׁקֶר, shaqer) and “reward” (שֶׂכֶר, sekher), underscoring the contrast by the repetition of sounds. The wages of the wicked are deceptive; the reward of the righteous is sure.
11 tn Heb “in the hand of.”
12 sn What people say can lead to life or death. The Midrash on Psalms shows one way the tongue [what is said] can cause death: “The evil tongue slays three, the slanderer, the slandered, and the listener” (Midrash Tehillim 52:2). See J. G. Williams, “The Power of Form: A Study of Biblical Proverbs,” Semeia 17 (1980): 35-38.
13 tn The referent of “it” must be the tongue, i.e., what the tongue says (= “its use”). So those who enjoy talking, indulging in it, must “eat” its fruit, whether good or bad. The expression “eating the fruit” is an implied comparison; it means accept the consequences of loving to talk (cf. TEV).
14 tn Heb “do not let your hand rest.” The Hebrew phrase “do not let your hand rest” is an idiom that means “do not stop working” or “do not be idle” (e.g., Eccl 7:18); cf. BDB 628 s.v. נוּחַ B.1. Several English versions capture the sense of the idiom well: “do not stop working” (NEB); “do not be idle” (MLB); “let not your hand be idle” (NAB); “let not your hands be idle” (NIV); “stay not your hand” (Moffatt). The term “hand” is a synecdoche of part (i.e., do not let your hand rest) for the whole person (i.e., do not allow yourself to stop working).
15 tn The terms “morning” (בֹּקֶר, boqer) and “evening” (עֶרֶב, ’erev) form a merism (a figure of speech using two polar extremes to include everything in between) that connotes “from morning until evening.” The point is not that the farmer should plant at two times in the day (morning and evening), but that he should plant all day long (from morning until evening). This merism is reflected in several translations: “in the morning…until evening” (NEB, Moffatt).
16 tn The term “activity” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.
17 tn The verb כָּשֵׁר (kasher, “to prosper”) is used metonymically to denote “will succeed.” In 11:10, it means “skill in work.”
18 tn Or “together.”
19 tn Heb “by all the waters.”
20 tn Heb “who set free the foot of the ox and donkey”; NIV “letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”
21 tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.
22 tn Grk “is sown.”
23 tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”