Bible Strands
Matthew 9:37
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to His disciples immediately after describing the crowds as harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), and immediately before the appeal to ask the Lord of the harvest (Matthew 9:38).
The words — θερισμός (therismos, "harvest") is a concrete agricultural term, not an abstract metaphor for "opportunity"; the word carries the sense of a season-bound crop that will be lost if not gathered.
The thread — The sentence appears verbatim in Luke 10:2, where it introduces the sending of the seventy-two. The "workers" motif recurs in 1 Corinthians 3:9 ("God's fellow workers") and the universal commission in Mark 16:15.
Why it lands — The verse names a specific imbalance (plenty of need, scarcity of laborers) and, by placing it between compassion (v.36) and a prayer request (v.38), it positions the reader as one who must either close the gap or ask God to close it.
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 Greek words
King James Version
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Cross-references
- Luke 10:2 And He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.
- Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- 1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.
- Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
- Luke 24:47 and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
- 2 Corinthians 6:1 As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
- Psalms 68:11 The Lord gives the command; a great company of women proclaim it:
- Acts 16:9 During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:12 But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who work diligently among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.