Jeremiah 12:13 · Bible study
Jeremiah 12:13 Commentary: Sowing Wheat, Reaping Thorns
Hebrew · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Commentary on Jeremiah 12:13: the meaning of 'sown wheat, reaped thorns', God's judgment when human striving bypasses His blessing.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Human effort, disconnected from God, ends in frustration, a principle of judgment and a caution for all.
- Key words: ‘sown’ (זָרְעוּ), ‘thorns’ (קֹצִים), ‘exhausted themselves’ (נֶחְלוּ), ‘fierce anger’ (חֲרוֹן אַף).
- Main debate: Whether the ‘sowing’ is literal crop failure or a metaphor for political/military strategies.
- Theological theme: The futility of life apart from God; covenant curses for disobedience; God’s sovereignty over human outcomes.
- Best use: As a warning against self-reliance and an invitation to examine whose blessing we depend on.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
WEB World English Bible 2000
They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have exhausted themselves, and profit nothing. You will be ashamed of your fruits, because of Yahweh’s fierce anger.”
KJV King James Version 1769
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing: and ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
They sowed wheat, and have thorns reaped, They have become sick--they profit not, And they have been ashamed of your increases, Because of the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
They have sown wheat, and they reap thorns; they have put themselves to pain, [and] do not profit. Be ye therefore ashamed of your revenues, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
They have sown wheat, and reaped thorns: they have received an inheritance, and it shall not profit them: you shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce wrath of the Lord.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Sembraron trigo, y segarán espinas; tuvieron la heredad, mas no aprovecharon nada: se avergonzarán de vuestros frutos, á causa de la ardiente ira de Jehová.
Semearam trigo, e ceifarão espinhos; cansaram-se, mas não tiveram proveito algum. Envergonhai-vos de vossos frutos, por causa da ardente ira do SENHOR.
Ils ont semé du froment, et ils moissonnent des épines,
Sie säen Weizen, aber Disteln werden sie ernten; sie lassen's sich sauer werden, aber sie werden's nicht genießen; sie werden ihres Einkommens nicht froh werden vor dem grimmigen Zorn des HERRN.
Zij hebben tarwe gezaaid, maar doornen gemaaid; zij hebben zich gepijnigd, maar niet gevorderd; wordt alzo beschaamd vanwege ulieder inkomsten, vanwege de hittigheid van den toorn des HEEREN.
Han seminato grano, e raccolgono spine; si sono affannati senz’alcun profitto. Vergognatevi di ciò che raccogliete a motivo dell’ardente ira dell’Eterno!
Nasieją pszenicy, ale ciernie żąć będą; frasować się będą, ale nic nie sprawią, i wstydzić się będą za urodzaje swoje dla gniewu popędliwości Pańskiej.
Они сеяли пшеницу, а пожали терны; измучились, и не получили никакой пользы; постыдитесь же таких прибытков ваших по причине пламенного гнева Господа.
他們種 的是麥子，收 的是荊棘；勞勞苦苦 卻毫無 益處。因耶和華 的烈 怒，你們必為自己的土產 羞愧。
Though good grain was planted, they have got in thorns: they have given themselves pain without profit: they will be shamed on account of their produce, because of the burning wrath of the Lord.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Jeremiah 12:13
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree this verse announces God’s judgment on Judah: all their efforts, whether farming or political maneuvering, collapse into disappointment. Calvin argues the ‘sowing’ refers to the people’s alliances with Egypt; they thought they acted wisely, but God laughs their confidence to scorn. Gill agrees: their ‘prudently laid schemes’ proved ‘grievous and vexatious.’ Barnes notes the Hebrew perfect verbs indicate failure already realized, ‘have reaped … have profited nothing’, not merely a future threat. The phrase ‘fierce anger of Yahweh’ (חֲרוֹן אַף) identifies God’s burning wrath as the root cause. All interpreters concur that human labor detached from God’s blessing yields only thorns.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Literal agricultural failure: Covenant curses (Lev 26:16, Deut 28:38); the land actually becomes barren because of invasion and neglect.
- Metaphor for political futility: Calvin, Gill, and the context of Jeremiah's warnings against Egyptian alliances (cf. Isa 30–31, Jer 37).
- Prophetic sowing rejected: Kimchi's interpretation (cited by Gill) that the prophets sowed God’s word but the people brought forth thorns.
What is clear: Regardless of interpretive lens, the verse declares that human effort yields nothing when God’s anger rests on the people—a direct consequence of covenant unfaithfulness.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Subject of ‘they’ in verse 13a | It refers to the people of Judah as a whole, those facing judgment. | Some (Kimchi, cited by Gill) read it as the prophets who sowed the word but got no fruit. Calvin strongly rejects this, insisting it means the people’s own schemes. |
| Literal vs. figurative reading | The language describes agricultural failure that reflects God’s curse. | Calvin, Gill, and most moderns read the wheat and thorns as a metaphor for political alliances that fail. Others (e.g., Matthew Henry) allow a literal dimension: actual crops blighted by invasion and plague. |
| Identity of ‘your fruits/revenues’ | The pronouns shift from third to second person, a direct address to the people. | Whether ‘your’ refers to the people’s literal harvest, the profits from trade, or the outcome of their political plans. Barnes and Jamieson-Fausset-Brown take it as the disappointing produce of the land. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Jeremiah 12 sits within the prophet’s oracles during the reign of Jehoiakim (609, 598 BC), as Babylon rose to power and Judah wavered between submission and revolt. The surrounding verses (7, 12) depict God abandoning His ‘house’ and ‘heritage’ because the people turned against Him like a lion or a strange bird attacked by predators. The land lies desolate, with destroyers swarming across every bare height (v. 12).
In this context, the people’s ‘sowing wheat and reaping thorns’ likely refers both to literal agricultural failure, covenant curses from Leviticus 26:16 and Deuteronomy 28:38 warned that disobedience would bring blighted harvests, and to the futility of their political schemes. Judah repeatedly sought military aid from Egypt against Babylon (cf. Isaiah 30:1, 7, 31:1, 3), trusting in chariots and horses rather than Yahweh. These alliances drained the treasury and brought no lasting security. The ‘thorns’ evoke the primeval curse of Genesis 3:18, signaling that the people’s rebellion had reversed creation’s fruitfulness.
‘Your fruits’ (תְּבוּאֹתֵיכֶם) can mean crops, revenue, or any produce of labor. The second-person plural ‘you’ shifts from the third-person ‘they’ of the first half, a prophet’s direct address that drives home personal accountability. The ‘fierce anger of the LORD’ (חֲרוֹן אַף יְהוָה) is the theological key: behind the Babylonians, behind the blighted fields, stands a holy God whose patience has run out.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants in the Hebrew for this verse. The Septuagint reads the first verb as an imperative (‘sow you’) rather than a perfect indicative, a reading Gill mentions and Jarchi notes from a pointed copy; but the Masoretic Text consistently has the indicative perfect (זָרְעוּ, ‘they have sown’).
Reception History
This verse has been read across traditions as a vivid emblem of human futility without God. In Jewish exegesis, it reiterated the covenant curses, disobedience turns the land to thorns. Christian interpreters, especially the Reformers, used it to critique reliance on political and military alliances rather than on God. Calvin’s lengthy treatment anchors the verse in the concrete historical situation of Egyptian entanglements. In later preaching, the image of ‘sowing wheat and reaping thorns’ became a warning against all forms of self-salvation, urging hearers to root their labor in repentance and trust. The verse is less cited in patristic sources but has appeared in sermons on the vanity of life without God and the necessity of divine blessing for any fruitful endeavor.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Investment, The people sow wheat: they put in real effort, time, and resources (alliances, treaties, hard labor).
- The Harvest, They reap thorns: every scheme fails. The Hebrew perfect tense shows this is already happening, God’s judgment is not postponed.
- The Reason, ‘Because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.’ The root issue is not bad strategy but broken relationship with God.
Five-point outline
- Hard work does not guarantee blessing when it bypasses God (v. 13a).
- Self-reliance exhausts people without profit (v. 13b, ‘exhausted themselves’).
- Shame follows when the harvest reveals the emptiness of our plans (v. 13c).
- God’s anger is the backdrop, not arbitrary but a response to covenant faithlessness.
- The only secure labor is done within God’s will, dependent on His mercy.
Illustration hooks
- A farmer who plants expensive hybrid seed but ignores soil conditions and weather patterns, and then watches weeds overtake the field.
- A business owner who works 80-hour weeks, cuts ethical corners, and then loses the company to a lawsuit. The profit vanishes.
- A student who cheats to get into a good college, then flunks out because the foundation wasn’t real. The ‘wheat’ never becomes bread.
Questions your congregation is asking
- ‘I work so hard, why does it feel like nothing ever works out for me?’
- ‘How do I know whether my plans are blessed by God or just my own ideas?’
- ‘Is God angry with me when my efforts fail, or is something else going on?’
Leading a Discussion
This verse shows a people who invested everything in the wrong source of security. Their labor was real, their exhaustion genuine, but the harvest proved they were rowing against God’s current. As you discuss, pay attention to how the verse distinguishes between effort and blessing.
Discussion questions
- Read the verse aloud. What stands out to you about the contrast between ‘wheat’ and ‘thorns’?
- The Hebrew verbs are perfect tense, ‘they have reaped,’ ‘they have profited nothing.’ Why does the timing matter for understanding the message?
- What larger biblical story does this verse echo (consider Genesis 3:18, Leviticus 26:16, Deuteronomy 28:38)?
- Calvin and Gill both saw the ‘sowing’ as Judah’s political alliances. Do you think the verse applies to literal farming, to human strategies, or both? Why?
- In what areas of life do people today ‘sow wheat’ but expect God to bless work done apart from Him?
- How does the phrase ‘fierce anger of Yahweh’ shape your view of God’s character? Is it compatible with love?
- What would it look like to ‘sow wheat’ in a way that invites God’s blessing rather than His judgment?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Leviticus 26:16 | I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it. |
| Deuteronomy 28:38 | You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it. |
| Isaiah 30:1 | “Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; |
| Isaiah 30:6 | The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people. |
| Isaiah 31:1 | Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek Yahweh! |
| Isaiah 31:3 | Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together. |
| Isaiah 55:2 | Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness. |
| Jeremiah 3:23 | Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke draws a direct link between spiritual opposition to God and the failure of every human effort. He reads the image of sowing wheat and reaping thorns not as bad luck but as a specific judgment: because these people are enemies to God, His blessing is withheld, and nothing they attempt can truly succeed.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that the verbs in this proverb are properly past tense: the people have already reaped and profited nothing. Their labors have already ended in disappointment, and they stand ashamed of the harvest their fields produced. This shifts the warning from a future threat to a description of realized failure.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin argues this passage is not about the prophets but about the curse God was about to send on the Jews. Their "sowing" refers to seeking alliances and human schemes, especially with Egypt. They thought they were acting wisely and would reap good results, but God would give them thorns instead of wheat.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes stress the ironic futility of the people's efforts under God's judgment. They sow wheat but reap thorns, fall sick with no gain
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill interprets the verse as referring to Judah's failed scheme to ally with Egypt against Babylon. Their careful plans produced only trouble and shame instead of profit. This bitter outcome came because no human alliance could protect them from the Lord's fierce anger.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB notes that the sudden shift from indirect to direct address is a common prophetic device. The phrase "ashamed of your" conveys the shame of bitter disappointment when the harvest yields far less than expected.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch insists these verses are prophecy, not a historical report of past suffering. The perfect tenses declare a divine decree already settled, not events already accomplished. God reveals to Jeremiah the certain judgment ahead, answering the complaint about delayed justice by showing it is irrevocably fixed.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry focuses on the terrible progression: God first abandons His temple and people, and only then do enemies destroy them. The deepest tragedy is that these were the "dearly beloved of his soul" — God's special treasure who repaid His love with hatred, forcing Him to leave.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley stresses that God's anger nullifies every human effort, not just spiritual works but also daily labor, trade, and planning. The returns become so painfully small that people feel deep shame over what they have worked for.