7 Bible Verses About The Harvest

Since the Bible was written during an agricultural time, it talks about the harvest more often than we do today. The vast majority of people are buying their food from a grocery store—not harvesting crops in a field. Most of the food we buy is available every day, so we don’t need to wait for a harvest to enjoy food.

The principle of the harvest still applies to us today, even if we’re not physically harvesting crops.

Here are 7 Bible verses that can help us learn about the harvest and what it means in our lives today.

What does the Bible say about the harvest?

"He told them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'"
Luke 10:2 NIV

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.”
Leviticus 23:22 ESV

“Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field."
Exodus 23:16 NIV

These three Bible verses provide some insight into God’s instructions about harvesting. At the time, people were harvesting grains, vegetables, and crops. Today, we can apply the same principles to the work we do to buy food from the stores.

The verse in Luke tells us that there is an abundance of opportunities available, but there’s not enough people who are willing to do the work. There are more than enough opportunities to gather a great harvest!

Rather than praying for a bigger harvest, we should focus on working with other people to go gather it.

What God tells us in Leviticus should inspire us to look out for other people. All of the work you do to provide and put food on the table shouldn’t be self-centered. We should work hard, but not everything you earn is for you.

In the Bible, poor people could walk by a field and gather some leftover food.

We should never be so greedy that everything we produce goes into our own pockets. Be generous and share some of the leftovers with those who don’t have enough.

The third verse talks about celebrating during times of sowing and reaping. Sowing is the time of planting seeds. It might feel like you’re losing something because the seed is leaving you. But God says that we should be celebrating during this time.

Sowing seeds in making an investment into our future. We have a reason to celebrate because we know the harvest will be greater than the seeds we plant. Then, when we’re gathering the harvest, we should also be celebrating what has grown and enjoy the fruit of our labor.

"A wise youth harvests in the summer, but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.”
Proverbs 10:5 NLT

“The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.”
Proverbs 20:4 NKJV

“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
Genesis 8:22 NKJV

"Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the soul of his masters."
Proverbs 25:13 ESV

These next four verses all have a similar theme. 

There is a time and season to enjoy the harvest, and a time to do the work necessary to prepare for a harvest. Most of us can walk into a grocery store at any time and see shelves floor to ceiling full of food. That is a blessing, but it can make it feel like we’re in a never-ending harvest season. 

The Bible makes it clear that the harvest is available for a season, and then the season changes. We shouldn’t expect there to be a harvest 24/7/365. That’s simply unbiblical.

We will experience winter seasons where everything is dead. Winder isn’t a bad thing, God spoke in Genesis and designed the world that way. We need to recognize the times and seasons that we’re living in so we can have an appropriate response. 

If we’re in the winter, we can’t wait around until a harvest because it will never come. If a farmer doesn’t prepare his land in the winter seasons, he’ll never have a harvest. If you’ve ever lived somewhere with a cold winter, you know how hard it is to be outside during the cold. We need to embrace the difficulties of life so that we can enjoy the abundance of the harvest seasons.

Proverbs 20 talks about a man who ignores his work because it’s winter and inconvenient for him to work. It’s cold outside and he doesn’t want to work his land. But, when the seasons change, all of his friends are collecting their harvest. He’s left with nothing and forced to beg.

Don’t be like this man.

Do the work you need to do, even when it’s inconvenient and uncomfortable— that’s how you will enjoy the harvest.