Topical Bible: Crops

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Topical Encyclopedia

Crops in the Bible are a significant aspect of the agrarian society in which the events of the Scriptures unfold. They are often used symbolically and literally to convey spiritual truths, divine blessings, and judgments. The cultivation of crops is a recurring theme that reflects the dependence of the people on God's provision and the land's fertility.

Biblical Significance

1. Provision and Blessing: Crops are frequently associated with God's provision and blessing. In Genesis 1:29, God provides plants yielding seed and trees with fruit as food for humanity. The Promised Land is described as "a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8), indicating its agricultural abundance. The Israelites' prosperity is often linked to the fertility of their crops, as seen in Deuteronomy 28:8, where God promises to bless their barns and all the work of their hands.

2. Feasts and Offerings: The agricultural calendar of Israel is closely tied to religious observances. The Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10-11) and the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) (Leviticus 23:15-17) are directly related to the harvest. These feasts involve offering the first portion of the harvest to God, acknowledging His provision and sovereignty.

3. Judgment and Famine: Conversely, the failure of crops is often seen as a sign of divine judgment. In Joel 1:10-12, the prophet describes a devastating locust plague that destroys the fields, vineyards, and orchards, symbolizing God's judgment on the land. Famine is a recurring theme, as seen in the account of Joseph, where God uses a seven-year famine to bring about His purposes (Genesis 41:30).

4. Parables and Teachings: Jesus frequently used agricultural imagery in His parables. The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9) illustrates different responses to the Gospel message, likening them to seeds sown on various types of soil. The Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) uses the imagery of wheat and weeds growing together to teach about the kingdom of God and the final judgment.

5. Spiritual Lessons: Crops also serve as metaphors for spiritual truths. In Galatians 6:7-9, Paul writes about sowing and reaping, emphasizing that those who sow to please the Spirit will reap eternal life. This principle underscores the importance of living a life that honors God, with the assurance of a future harvest of righteousness.

Cultural and Historical Context

In ancient Israel, agriculture was the backbone of the economy. The primary crops included wheat, barley, grapes, olives, and figs. The agricultural cycle was dictated by the seasons, with the early rains in autumn and the latter rains in spring being crucial for a successful harvest (Deuteronomy 11:14). The sabbatical year, observed every seventh year, required the land to lie fallow, allowing it to rest and rejuvenate (Leviticus 25:4).

Conclusion

Crops in the Bible are more than just a source of physical sustenance; they are deeply woven into the spiritual and cultural fabric of biblical narratives. They serve as a reminder of God's provision, the importance of obedience, and the spiritual truths that transcend the physical realm.

Greek

4406. proimos -- early rain, early crops.
... 4405, 4406. proimos. 4407 . early rain, early crops. Part ... Word Origin variant
reading for proimos, qv. early rain, early crops. From ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4406.htm - 6k

2592. karpophoreo -- to bear fruit
... See 2590 (). Word Origin from karpophoros Definition to bear fruit NASB Word Usage
bear fruit (4), bearing fruit (2), bears fruit (1), produces crops (1). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2592.htm - 7k

2915. krithe -- barley
... Barley was used "principally as food for horses" (Zod, ). (Rev 6:6) -- Unlike
annual crops, olives and grapes once devastated. The ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2915.htm - 6k

2590. karpos -- fruit
... word Definition fruit NASB Word Usage benefit (2), crop (5), crops (2), descendants*
(1), fruit (43), fruitful (1), fruits (4), grain (1), harvest (1 ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2590.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

7711b. shiddaphon -- blight (of crops)
... 7711a, 7711b. shiddaphon. 7712 . blight (of crops). Transliteration:
shiddaphon Short Definition: blight. Word Origin from shadaph ...
/hebrew/7711b.htm - 5k

2981. yebul -- produce (of the soil)
... Word Origin from yabal Definition produce (of the soil) NASB Word Usage crops (1),
fruit (2), increase (2), produce (7), yield (1). fruit, increase. ...
/hebrew/2981.htm - 6k

6631. tseetsa -- issue, offspring, produce
... Word Origin from yatsa Definition issue, offspring, produce NASB Word Usage crops
(1), descendants (4), offspring (5), offspring* (1), springs (1). ...
/hebrew/6631.htm - 6k

8393. tebuah -- product, revenue
... Word Origin from bo Definition product, revenue NASB Word Usage crop (4), crops
(6), gain (1), harvest (4), income (4), increase (3), produce (10), product (3 ...
/hebrew/8393.htm - 6k

614. asiph -- ingathering, harvest
... ingathering. Or maciph {aw-seef'}; from 'acaph; gathered, ie (abstractly) a gathering
in of crops -- ingathering. see HEBREW 'acaph. 613, 614. asiph. 615 . ...
/hebrew/614.htm - 6k

Library

Letter Xlvi. (AD 398. )
... stationed on the frontier or of the tribune, when they have come under engagement
to carry baggage to any part, or to protect the crops from depredation; and ...
/.../augustine/the confessions and letters of st/letter xlvi a d 398.htm

When a Man Sows, He Expects to Reap.
... corn in the ear. The farmer is not disappointed because all his crops do
not spring up in a night like mushrooms. He looks forward ...
//christianbookshelf.org/moody/sowing and reaping/chapter iii when a man.htm

The Answer that Without God's Help not Only Perfect Chastity but ...
... For neither can the husbandman, when he has spent the utmost pains in cultivating
the ground, forthwith ascribe the produce of the crops and the rich fruits to ...
/.../cassian/the conferences of john cassian/chapter iii the answer that.htm

The Problem of Foreign Missions
... Some crops it is mere waste of time to try to plant in one place; the
specialist's business is to find out what will grow there. ...
/.../berkhof/new evangelism and other papers/the problem of foreign missions.htm

We Ought not to Allow the Idea of Profit to Get Hold of Us. ...
... 41. Thou must expect payment for thy labour from the crops of the fruitful land,
and must hope for a just return from the fruitfulness of the rich earth. ...
/.../ambrose/works and letters of st ambrose/chapter vi we ought not.htm

What Things Befell Joseph in Prison.
... If thou, therefore, carefully dispose of the plentiful crops which will come in
the former years, thou wilt procure that the future calamity will not be felt ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 5 what things befell.htm

To those who Say, "If the Resurrection is a Thing Excellent and ...
... be cast out from the object of our hopes; for just as though, if one were to tell
some inexperienced person beforehand, "the gathering of the crops will take ...
/.../gregory/gregory of nyssa dogmatic treatises etc/xxii to those who say.htm

Abraham
... remember, and the moon are far more brilliant and powerful in the East than here;
their power of doing harm or good to human beings and to the crops of the ...
/.../kingsley/the gospel of the pentateuch/sermon v abraham.htm

The Story of Moses, the Child who was Found in the River
... over, they found the soil in the land of Goshen, that part of Egypt where they were
living, very rich, so that they could gather three or four crops every year ...
/.../marshall/the wonder book of bible stories/the story of moses the.htm

The Woman of Samaria
... To lose all they had ever earned; all that makes life worth having. To have their
homes burnt over their heads, their crops carried off their fields. ...
/.../kingsley/town and country sermons/sermon xxvi the woman of.htm

Thesaurus

Crops (48 Occurrences)
... Multi-Version Concordance Crops (48 Occurrences). Mark ... them. "A certain rich
man's lands," He said, "yielded abundant crops, (WEY). ...
/c/crops.htm - 19k

Yielded (28 Occurrences)
... "A certain rich man's lands," He said, "yielded abundant crops, (WEY). ... (DBY). James
5:18 Again he prayed, and the sky gave rain and the land yielded its crops. ...
/y/yielded.htm - 14k

Gaulonitis
... Splendid crops of wheat are grown here, and olives flourish in the hollows. ... The
surrounding soil is rich and well watered, bearing excellent crops. ...
/g/gaulonitis.htm - 9k

Golan (4 Occurrences)
... Splendid crops of wheat are grown here, and olives flourish in the hollows. ... The
surrounding soil is rich and well watered, bearing excellent crops. ...
/g/golan.htm - 11k

Crop (33 Occurrences)
... (See NIV). Luke 12:16 And He spoke a parable to them. "A certain rich man's
lands," He said, "yielded abundant crops, (Root in WEY NIV). ...
/c/crop.htm - 17k

Esdraelon
... The deep, rich soil, however, retains the moisture from the winter rains until far
on in the year, the surface only, where uncovered by crops, being baked to ...
/e/esdraelon.htm - 15k

Agriculture
... n.) The art or science of cultivating the ground, including the harvesting of crops,
and the rearing and management of live stock; tillage; husbandry; farming. ...
/a/agriculture.htm - 27k

Fig (45 Occurrences)
... The fig-tree of Palestine (Ficus carica) produces two and sometimes three crops
of figs in a year, (1) the bikkurah, or "early-ripe fig" (Micah 7:1; Isaiah 28:4 ...
/f/fig.htm - 33k

Sell (58 Occurrences)
... neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to
you. (WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV). Leviticus ...
/s/sell.htm - 26k

Code (6 Occurrences)
... Also the landowner with liabilities, who suffers through failure of crops and
inundation, enjoys far-reaching protection (section 48), and his business ...
/c/code.htm - 40k

Resources

What does it mean to rebuke the devourer in Malachi 3:11? | GotQuestions.org

What is a sabbatical year? | GotQuestions.org

What was the meaning and purpose of the ten plagues of Egypt? | GotQuestions.org

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Crops (48 Occurrences)

Mark 4:28
For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
(See NAS)

Luke 12:16
And He spoke a parable to them. "A certain rich man's lands," He said, "yielded abundant crops,
(WEY)

Luke 12:17
He reasoned within himself, saying,'What will I do, because I don't have room to store my crops?'
(WEB WEY NAS RSV NIV)

Acts 14:17
Yet he didn't leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
(See NIV)

2 Timothy 2:6
The farmers who labor must be the first to get a share of the crops.
(WEB NAS RSV NIV)

James 5:4
I tell you that the pay of the labourers who have gathered in your crops--pay which you are keeping back--is calling out against you; and the outcries of those who have been your reapers have entered into the ears of the Lord of the armies of Heaven.
(WEY)

James 5:18
Again he prayed, and the sky gave rain and the land yielded its crops.
(WEY NIV)

Revelation 22:2
On either side of the river, midway between it and the main street of the city, was the Tree of Life. It produced twelve kinds of fruit, yielding a fresh crop month by month, and the leaves of the tree served as medicine for the nations.
(See NIV)

Genesis 4:12
From now on, when you till the ground, it won't yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth."
(See NIV)

Genesis 26:12
Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.
(See NIV)

Exodus 23:10
"For six years you shall sow your land, and shall gather in its increase,
(See NIV)

Exodus 23:16
And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field: and the feast of harvest, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field.
(See NIV)

Leviticus 23:39
"'So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days: on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
(See NAS NIV)

Leviticus 25:3
Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruits;
(See NIV)

Leviticus 25:7
For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.
(See NAS)

Leviticus 25:12
For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.
(See NAS)

Leviticus 25:15
According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.
(WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 25:16
According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.
(WEB JPS ASV DBY NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 25:20
If you said, "What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;"
(See NAS NIV)

Leviticus 26:4
then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
(See NIV)

Leviticus 26:20
and your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won't yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 7:13
and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 22:9
You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole fruit be forfeited, the seed which you have sown, and the increase of the vineyard.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 28:4
You shall be blessed in the fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the fruit of your animals, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 28:11
Yahweh will make you plenteous for good, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 28:18
The fruit of your body, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your livestock, and the young of your flock shall be cursed.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 28:42
All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust possess.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 28:51
and shall eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; that also shall not leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
(See NIV)

Deuteronomy 30:9
Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers;
(See NIV)

Judges 6:3
So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them;
(See NIV)

Judges 6:4
and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, until you come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey.
(See NIV)

2 Samuel 9:10
You shall till the land for him, you, and your sons, and your servants; and you shall bring in the fruits, that your master's son may have bread to eat: but Mephibosheth your master's son shall eat bread always at my table." Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
(See NIV)

Nehemiah 10:35
and to bring the first fruits of our ground, and the first fruits of all fruit of all manner of trees, year by year, to the house of Yahweh;
(See NIV)

Nehemiah 10:37
and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our wave offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.
(See NIV)

Job 31:8
then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
(See NAS NIV)

Psalms 65:10
You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.
(See NIV)

Psalms 78:46
He gave also their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust.
(See NAS RSV NIV)

Proverbs 3:9
Give honour to the Lord with your wealth, and with the first-fruits of all your increase:
(See NIV)

Proverbs 10:5
He who in summer gets together his store is a son who does wisely; but he who takes his rest when the grain is being cut is a son causing shame.
(See NIV)

Proverbs 14:4
Where there are no oxen, their food-place is clean; but much increase comes through the strength of the ox.
(See RSV)

Proverbs 28:3
A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.
(WEB NIV)

Jeremiah 35:9
nor to build houses for us to dwell in; neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:
(See NIV)

Ezekiel 34:27
The tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
(See NIV)

Ezekiel 34:29
I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more.
(See NIV)

Ezekiel 36:30
I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.
(See NIV)

Haggai 1:10
Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.
(See NIV)

Zechariah 8:12
"For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
(See NIV)

Malachi 3:11
I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field," says Yahweh of Armies.
(See NIV)

Subtopics

Crops

Related Terms

Cross-mark (1 Occurrence)

Cross-ways (1 Occurrence)

Cross-paths (1 Occurrence)

Cross-roads (2 Occurrences)

Cross-way (1 Occurrence)

Cross-beams (1 Occurrence)

Cross-examined (1 Occurrence)

Nailed (9 Occurrences)

Crucifixion (4 Occurrences)