³ “Listen! Behold, ^(A)a sower went out to sow.

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, ^(A)has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be ^(B)rich in faith and heirs of ^(C)the kingdom, ^(D)which he has promised to those who love him?

^6 (A)I planted, ^(B)Apollos watered, ^(C)but God gave the growth. ⁷ So ^(D)neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each ^(E)will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are ^(F)God's fellow workers. You are God's field, ^(G)God's building.

³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^(A)the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that ^(B)sower and ^(C)reaper ^(D)may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ^(E)‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap ^(F)that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, ^(G)and you have entered into their labor.”

^5 (A)“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶ And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, ^(B)it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷ And some fell among ^(C)thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded ^(D)a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, ^(E)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶ And he said, ^(A)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(B)he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once ^(C)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.

Moses Commands Obedience

4 “And now, O Israel, listen to ^(A)the statutes and the rules^[a] that I am teaching you, and do them, ^(B)that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

^29 (A)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’