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NASB | John 4:38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 4:38 "I sent you to reap [a crop] for which you have not worked. Others have worked and you have been privileged to reap the results of their work." |
Bible Question:
Who are the others who have labored before in John 4:38, so that the fields are now (at the time Jesus spoke) "white for harvest" (John 4:35)? 35 ""Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36 ""Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 ""For in this case the saying is true, " One sows and another reaps.' 38 ""I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.'' |
Bible Answer: Thanks for the added commentary, Ray. My question was actually much more narrow. I was referring specifically to the situation in John 4. Jesus was in Samaria, speaking to a specific group of people whom He soon sent out among the Jews and Samaritans. I don't know that the statement in this passage had any reference whatsoever to his later command sending them to the nations. At this point, I think I'm agreed with the view that John 4 is referring to the patriarchs and prophets, leading up through John and including Himself. Your reference to this passage as a parable (in your earlier response) confuses me somewhat. This is historical interaction without stories or parables being told. There may be some double reference to the disciples being sent to get bread that someone else had prepared and the upcoming evangelism among the Jews and Samaritans, but this is not a parable. You kind of lost me when you referred to this exchange as a parable, and I'm not sure we're on the same page right now. Can we backtrack to the current passage again, or were you introducing a new topic? |