Matthew 9:37

Plain English Version

Jesus said to his followers, “Lots of people need to hear about me. They are ready to listen, but nobody is telling them. They are like a big crop of food plants on a farm that are ready for the workers to get their seeds for food. But there are only a few workers. The farmer needs a lot of workers to bring all those seeds into the shed, and in the same way I need a lot of workers to tell people about me, and bring them to God.

Cross References

Matthew 20:1

Jesus said to his followers, “This picture story is about the people that will be in God’s family. There was a man that owned a garden, and he wanted some work-men to get a job finished in one day. So he went out early in the morning, to the place in the town where men waited around looking for a job.

Matthew 28:19

So go out to all the people in the world, and tell them about me. Teach those people to follow my way, and baptise them with water to show that they belong to the father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 9:38

So you have to ask God to send more workers out to tell everyone about me, just like the farmer has to ask for more workers for his crop.”

Mark 16:15

After that, Jesus said to his followers, “You have to go out to everywhere in the world and tell everybody the good news about me.

Luke 24:47

And God says you have to tell everyone about me. Tell them that they have to turn away from the bad things they do and turn to God, so that he will say they are not guilty of the bad things they did. You have to start telling people that message here in Jerusalem, and then go on to other countries, until you tell it to the people in every country.

Acts 16:9

They stayed in Troas, and that night, Paul had something like a dream, but he was not asleep, he was still awake. He saw a man from Macedonia country. That man was standing there, and he was saying to Paul, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Acts 18:10

I am with you, and nobody will attack you. Nobody will hurt you. You see, I’ve got a lot of people in this city.”

1 Corinthians 3:9

We are like 2 men that work for God in his garden, and you are like God’s garden. And I’ll use another picture story. This picture story shows that you are like God’s house that he is building for himself.

Colossians 4:11

And there is another man here that says hello to you. His name is Jesus, but we call him Justus. He says hello to you too. Those men are the only Jews that are working with me here. They are helping me get more people to come into God’s family, and they make this job much more easy for me.

1 Timothy 5:17

Everybody has to respect those people that lead the church properly, and the church has to pay them properly, especially the people that work hard to teach God’s word to other people.

James 5:4

You cheated to get that money. You got men to work on your farm, and they cut down the food crop that grew there, and they brought all that food to you. But you didn’t pay them for that work. You sent them away with no pay. Then they cried about it, and our God heard them. He is very strong, and he can see that you cheated them. God can see their money. It is still in your pocket. So God will make big trouble for you.