Jeremiah 12:13
in Jeremiah 12They 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.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
KJV
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.
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This verse in Jeremiah 12
Commentary
13 notes on this verse(Verse 13) They sowed wheat and harvested thorns: they received an inheritance, but it will not benefit them. LXX: You have sown wheat and harvested thorns: their clergy will not benefit them. They expected better things, but the worst came: they hoped for success, but endured adversity: they received an abundance of all things from the Lord, which will not benefit them. According to the Septuagint, all heretics sow wheat and harvest thorns, while the Lord waits for them to bear fruit, but they do not bring forth judgment, only outcry.
This site's exposition
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard
on Jeremiah 12:10-13
The shepherds of 10:21 return here as foreign kings, who have “trampled My plot of ground” and turned the pleasant field into a wasteland. Verse 11 names its deepest cause, “no man takes it to heart”. Verse 13 states the futility plainly, “They have sown wheat but harvested thorns”.
This site's exposition
They have sown wheat but harvested thorns
Albert Barnes reads the verbs as past: they have sown wheat and reaped thorns, and their labor is spent for nothing. Matthew Henry applies the wheat to the pains Judah took for its own safety. The fierce anger of the LORD turned the harvest to shame.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Dearly beloved, it is fitting that we should not abuse our rank as clergy, so as to make it an occasion of pride, but diligently keep and observe God's commandments, to be in reality what in name we profess to be. For if the Holy …
And it is said to those who have sinned, "You sow wheat and you reap thorns"; for even if they discourse in the oracles of God, those who do not discourse rightly in them, nor live in the way they ought, nor believe, are sowing wheat and reaping thorns. And these things are most of all to be understood with reference to the heterodox, who engage with the Scriptures and reap thorns not from the Scriptures but from their own inventions. "Their lots will not profit them." These things others also have expounded. And since we do not reject their exposition, we in good conscience bring it forward into the midst, not as though we had found it ourselves, but as having learned a good lesson. This word will profit both you and us, if we attend to what is written — we who seem to be certain persons appointed from the clergy and set over you, so that some desire to come to this clerical order. But know that the clerical order does not by any means save; for many even among the presbyters will perish, and many even among the laity will be shown to be blessed. Since, then, there are some in the clergy who do not live in such a way as to be profited and to adorn the clerical order, for this reason, say those who have expounded, it is written, "Their lots will not profit them." For that which profits is not the mere sitting in the presbytery, but the living worthily of the place, as the word demands. The word demands that both you live well and we. But, if it must be so put, "the mighty shall be mightily tested"; more is demanded of me than of the deacon, more of the deacon than of the layman, and he to whom has been entrusted the rule over all of us, the very rule of the Church, is required to give account still more. […]
I beg you, therefore, and admonish you again and again: do not look to your military experience for a standard of clerical obligation. Under Christ's banner, do not seek worldly gain, lest having more than when you first became a clergyman, you hear people say, to your shame, "Their portion shall not profit them." Welcome poor people and strangers to your homely table, that with them Christ may be your guest.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
An intimation of mercy to God's people, in a denunciation of wrath against their neighbours that helped forward their affliction, that they should be plucked out; but with a promise that if they would at last join themselves with the people of God they should come in sharers with them in their privileges,
); it was this that kindled this fire among them and made their enemies so furious. And who may stand before him when he is angry? (2.) It is their sin that has made God their enemy, particularly their incorrigibleness under former rebukes (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " They have sown wheat, that is, they have taken a great deal of pains for their own security and promised themselves great matters from their endeavors, but it is all in vain; they shall reap thorns, that is, that which shall prove very grievous and vexatious to them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Shall reap ... shall not profit - Rather, have reaped ... have profited nothing. The force of the proverb is that all their labors had ended only in disappointment. And they shall be ashamed of your revenues - Or, yea, be ashamed of your produce - the produce of the fields.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Description in detail of the devastation of the land (Mic 6:15). they shall be ashamed of your--The change of persons, in passing from indirect to direct address, is frequent in the prophets. Equivalent to, "Ye shall be put to the shame of disappointment at the smallness of your produce."
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns - All their projects shall fail: none of their enterprises shall succeed. They are enemies to God, and therefore cannot have his blessing.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
They sowed wheat, but they reaped thorns They prayed, but their prayer was not accepted. Why? Because they did not plow for themselves a furrow of repentance and good deeds. Therefore, they sowed seeds resulting in thorns.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
My wicked neighbors Egypt, Ammon and Moab, Tyre and Sidon, who were neighbors of Eretz Israel and were inflicting harm upon them.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זָרְע֤וּ | zareu | people have sown | H2232 → | 56 times |
| חִטִּים֙ | chitim | wheat<s> | H2406 → | |
| וְקֹצִ֣ים | vekotzim | and thorns | H6975 → | |
| קָצָ֔רוּ | katzaru | they have reaped | H7114 → | |
| נֶחְל֖וּ | nechlu | they have wearied themselves | H2470 → | 76 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יוֹעִ֑לוּ | yoilu | they have profited | H3276 → | 23 times |
| וּבֹ֙שׁוּ֙ | uvoshu | and be ashamed | H954 → | 127 times |
| מִתְּבוּאֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם | mitevuoteikhem | from produce<s> your | H8393 → | |
| מֵחֲר֖וֹן | mecharon | from [the] burning of | H2740 → | 41 times |
| אַף־ | ʾaf- | [the] anger of | H639 → | 276 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ ס | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
זָרְע֤וּpeople have sown
zareuH2232 →56 times
חִטִּים֙wheat<s>
chitimH2406 →
וְקֹצִ֣יםand thorns
vekotzimH6975 →
קָצָ֔רוּthey have reaped
katzaruH7114 →
נֶחְל֖וּthey have wearied themselves
nechluH2470 →76 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יוֹעִ֑לוּthey have profited
yoiluH3276 →23 times
וּבֹ֙שׁוּ֙and be ashamed
uvoshuH954 →127 times
מִתְּבוּאֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םfrom produce<s> your
mitevuoteikhemH8393 →
מֵחֲר֖וֹןfrom [the] burning of
mecharonH2740 →41 times
אַף־[the] anger of
ʾaf-H639 →276 times
יְהוָֽה׃ סYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Haggai 1:6You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:38–40
You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Haggai 1:9
You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you…
- Hosea 4:10
They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have stopped obeying the LORD.
- Malachi 3:9–11
You are cursed with a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me.
- Deuteronomy 28:38–40
Through
Isaiah 55:2Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the…
it leads to
- John 6:48–58
I am the bread of life.
- Jeremiah 2:13
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
- John 6:48–58
Through
Leviticus 26:16then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed…
it leads to
- Micah 6:15
You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 6:15
Through
Deuteronomy 28:38You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.
it leads to
- Haggai 1:6
You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Haggai 1:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Jeremiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Epiphanius of Salamis, LETTER 51:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; Jerome, LETTER 52.5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 11.