The Uncertainties of Life

²³ Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. ²⁴ The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind.

¹⁸ And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.^[a]

⁹ For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.”^[a] Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? ¹⁰ Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.

¹¹ Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink?

⁶ I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.

¹⁴ Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women.

⁴ But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

⁴¹ Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.