2 Corinthians 9:6

9:6 My point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously ¹  will also reap generously.

Proverbs 11:18

11:18 The wicked person ²  earns ³  deceitful wages, ⁴ 

but the one who sows ⁵  righteousness reaps ⁶  a genuine ⁷  reward. ⁸ 

Ecclesiastes 11:6

11:6 Sow your seed in the morning,

and do not stop working ⁹  until the evening; ¹⁰ 

for you do not know which activity ¹¹  will succeed ¹²  –

whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. ¹³ 

Philippians 4:17

4:17 I do not say this because I am seeking a gift. ¹⁴  Rather, I seek the credit that abounds to your account.

[9:6]  ¹ tn Or “bountifully”; so also in the next occurrence in the verse.

[11:18]  ² tn The form is the masculine singular adjective used as a substantive.

[11:18]  ³ tn Heb “makes” (so NAB).

[11:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “wages of deception.”

[11:18]  ⁵ 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).

[11:18]  ⁶ tn The term “reaps” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation from context for the sake of smoothness.

[11:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “true” (so NASB, NRSV); KJV, NAB, NIV “sure.”

[11:18]  ⁸ 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.

[11:6]  ⁹ 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).

[11:6]  ¹⁰ 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).

[11:6]  ¹¹ tn The term “activity” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[11:6]  ¹² tn The verb כָּשֵׁר (kasher, “to prosper”) is used metonymically to denote “will succeed.” In 11:10, it means “skill in work.”

[11:6]  ¹³ tn Or “together.”

[4:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Not that I am seeking the gift.” The phrase “I do not say this…” has been supplied in the translation to complete the thought for the modern reader.