18 Bible Verses About Sowing Seeds
Because the Bible was written during an agricultural culture, it talks a lot about farming. Sometimes we can skim past these verses because we don’t have a field of crops. We go to a grocery store and grab whatever we want off from the shelves. We never think about the process that happened when the apple seed turned into a bag of apples we’re buying.
Sowing and reaping food and grains was a part of most people’s lives, and it was essential to their survival. Sowing seeds can be applied to our life today. This is a picture of giving something up for a time period, but expecting that something greater will eventually come back to us.
Some scriptures about sowing and reaping are literal advice about planting seed and harvesting crops. Other verses are more metaphorical. Even if we’re not planting actual seeds in the ground, we can apply the biblical principles in our life.
Here are 18 Bible verses about sowing seeds.
"Then Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings."
Genesis 36:12 AMP
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."
Galatians 6:7 NKJV
"Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well."
Ecclesiastes 11:6 NIV
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."
Genesis 8:22 NIV
“Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,"
2 Corinthians 9:10 NJKV
"There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty."
Proverbs 11:25 NIV
"The Lord will greatly bless his people. Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up. Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely."
Isaiah 32:20 NLT
Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land."
Leviticus 26:5 NLT
"Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”"
Matthew 13:31-32 NKJV
"Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy."
Psalm 126:5 NIV
"Light is sown [like seed] for the righteous and illuminates their path, And [irrepressible] joy [is spread] for the upright in heart [who delight in His favor and protection]."
Psalm 97:11 AMP
"He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap."
Ecclesiastes 11:4 AMPC
"Does a farmer always plow and never sow? Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting? Does he not finally plant his seeds—black cumin, cumin, wheat, barley, and emmer wheat—each in its proper way, and each in its proper place? The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding."
Isaiah 2824-26 NLT
"For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Plow your uncultivated ground [for a season], And do not sow among thorns."
Jeremiah 4:3 AMP
"The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life; a wise person wins friends."
Proverbs 11:30 NLT
"Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you."
Hosea 10:12 NIV
"For the seed shall be prosperous, The vine shall give its fruit, The ground shall give her increase, And the heavens shall give their dew— I will cause the remnant of this people To possess all these."
Zechariah 8:12 NKJV
"It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow."
1 Corinthians 3:7 NLT
Key takeaways
- When we’re sowing seeds (our money, time, possessions, etc.) it can feel like we’re losing something. In reality, we’re planting a seed and should expect a harvest that’s much greater than the seed we’ve planted.
- There’s a right time to sow seeds, and it will never look like the perfect time to do it. We need to understand the times and seasons of life. We also need to collect the harvest at the right time so it doesn’t go bad.
- There is going to be some waiting time between sowing seeds and reaping a harvest. We need to stay expectant after we’ve planted the seeds. A tree doesn’t grow into a tree overnight. It starts off very small and continues to grow larger and larger.
