The Value of Diligence

²³ He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures,^{(A) 24} and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage that has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

¹⁸ And the fruit of righteousness^[a] is sown in peace by those who make peace.^(A)

⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?^{(A) 10} Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we harvest material^[a] things?^(B)

⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

¹⁴ Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women,

⁴ But many of those who heard the word believed, and they numbered about five thousand.^(A)

⁴¹ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.