Bible Strands
Job 4:8
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Eliphaz addresses Job in a dialogue on divine retribution, immediately after questioning whether the innocent have ever perished. He speaks from personal observation to assert a causal link between moral action and consequence.
The words — רָ֭אִיתִי (Ra.'i.ti) = I have seen [H7200] and יִקְצְרֻֽ/הוּ (yik.tze.Ru./hu) = they harvest [H7114]. The text states that the speaker has observed plowers of wickedness and sowers of mischief harvesting the same outcome.
The thread — This agricultural metaphor for moral consequence runs through Galatians 6:7, Proverbs 22:8, and Hosea 8:7. Each reference extends the sowing-harvesting imagery to describe divine or natural retribution for injustice.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that moral choices produce predictable outcomes. It asks the reader to acknowledge the direct correlation between sowing iniquity and facing the resulting harvest.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
Cross-references
- Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Proverbs 22:8 He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Hosea 8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
- Job 15:35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- Jeremiah 4:18 “Your ways and deeds have brought this upon you. This is your punishment; how bitter it is, because it pierces to the heart!”
- Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.
- 2 Corinthians 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
- Psalms 7:14 Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.