To sow ; figuratively, to disseminate , plant , fructify
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H2232 is a Hebrew verb for sowing seed and, in figurative settings, scattering or establishing something expected to bear a later result. Ecclesiastes 11:6 urges sowing in the morning and continuing work into the evening because the worker does not know which effort will succeed.
Reader summary
Full entry for זָרַע (H2232) · Open the biblical lexicon
H2232 is a Hebrew verb for sowing seed and, in figurative settings, scattering or establishing something expected to bear a later result. Ecclesiastes 11:6 urges sowing in the morning and continuing work into the evening because the worker does not know which effort will succeed.
The BSB source-word alignment has 56 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include sow (5), to sow (4), You will sow (3), seed-bearing (2), They sow (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (9), Isaiah (7), Genesis (6), Jeremiah (6).
H2232 is a Hebrew verb for sowing seed and, in figurative settings, scattering or establishing something expected to bear a later result. Ecclesiastes 11:6 urges sowing in the morning and continuing work into the evening because the worker does not know which effort will succeed. Hosea 10:12 calls Israel to sow righteousness, reap loving devotion, break up unplowed ground, and seek the Lord, using agricultural labor to summon covenant repentance.
Second Kings 19:29 promises that after two years of eating what grows without regular cultivation, Judah will again sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. Other texts describe ordinary farming, creation's seed-bearing plants, invasion that destroys crops, and people sowing trouble or wind. H2232 opens teaching on patient labor, uncertainty, moral formation, judgment, and restored livelihood.
It corrects formulas that promise every good act a predictable material return or blame sufferers when faithful sowing does not produce the harvest they hoped to see.
H2232 most often names literal sowing in agricultural life, law, blessing, famine, invasion, and restoration. Wisdom and prophecy also use sowing for actions whose consequences mature over time. Seed, soil, agent, season, and stated harvest govern each image.
Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.
The worker is urged to sow diligently despite not knowing which effort will prosper or whether several will succeed together.
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.
Israel is summoned to sow righteousness, reap loving devotion, break resistant ground, and seek the Lord.
And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
The promised return to sowing, reaping, planting, and eating marks renewed ordinary livelihood after national crisis.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Sowing extends from literal agriculture to covenant multiplication—God's seed-promise ensures generational fruitfulness and inheritance.
Sowing extends from literal agriculture to covenant multiplication—God's seed-promise ensures generational fruitfulness and inheritance.
to sow; figuratively, to disseminate, plant, fructify BDB: sow Usage: bear, conceive seed, set with sow(-er), yield.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 56 lexical occurrence verses.
זָרַע is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The metaphor illustrates how moral actions function like seeds producing future outcomes.Hosea 10:9-15
Central metaphor of moral causation.Hosea 2:14-23
Reverses Jezreel judgment into restoration imagery.Proverbs 11:18
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H2232 joins human responsibility to creaturely limits. A farmer sows because seed must enter the ground before a crop can grow, yet weather, soil, violence, and many unseen conditions remain beyond the farmer's command. Ecclesiastes uses that uncertainty to encourage diligent, diversified labor rather than paralysis. The passage does not guarantee that every effort succeeds; it explicitly acknowledges that the worker does not know.
Hosea turns the image toward repentance. Sowing righteousness includes seeking the Lord and breaking resistant ground, so the metaphor calls for changed allegiance and conduct rather than a donation designed to purchase blessing. Second Kings places ordinary sowing and reaping within recovery after siege, showing restoration as renewed life over time. Other passages expose people who sow injustice, trouble, or wind and eventually face fitting consequences, but wisdom sayings about consequence are not tools for diagnosing every sufferer's past.
H2232 calls believers to act faithfully, cultivate justice, and leave growth to God's providence. Pastoral teaching should honor farmers, workers, caregivers, and ministries whose efforts face real uncertainty. It should never promise a set financial return for money called seed, nor turn delayed fruit into shame. Faithful sowing is obedience and hope, not control over God or creation.
Eccl.11.6
H2232 is the common Hebrew verb for sowing seed and can take fields, vineyards, righteousness, trouble, wind, or people as contextual objects. Literal agricultural usage provides the concrete basis for figurative actions expected to yield later consequences.
New Testament writers also use sowing and reaping for agriculture, generosity, proclamation, moral conduct, resurrection, and God's work of growth. Those uses share an agricultural image but must not be collapsed into one promise of financial multiplication.