³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.^(A)

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters:^(A) Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world^(B) to be rich in faith^(C) and to inherit the kingdom^(D) he promised those who love him?^(E)

⁶ I planted the seed,^(A) Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.^{(B) 9} For we are co-workers in God’s service;^(C) you are God’s field,^(D) God’s building.^(E)

³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.^{(A) 36} Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests^(B) a crop for eternal life,^(C) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’^(D) is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

⁵ “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”

When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(A)