2 Corinthians 9 · Verse 10

2 Corinthians 9:10

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

2 Corinthians 9:10, King James Version

2 Corinthians 9:10 in other translations

BSB	Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness.
WEB	Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
ASV	And he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:
YLT	and may He who is supplying seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
DARBY	Now he that supplies seed to the sower and bread for eating shall supply and make abundant your sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:
BBE	And he who gives seed for putting into the field and bread for food, will take care of the growth of your seed, at the same time increasing the fruits of your righteousness;
Webster	Now may he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

What does 2 Corinthians 9:10 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

10. Translate, as in Is 55:10, "He that ministereth (supplieth) seed to the sower and bread for food" (literally, "bread for eating"). minister--rather future, as the oldest manuscripts, "Shall minister (supply) and multiply." your seed--your means for liberality. the fruits of your righteousness--the heavenly rewards for your Christian charity (Mt 10:42). Righteousness shall be itself the reward, even as it is the thing rewarded (Ho 10:12; Mt 5:6; 6:33).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 10. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower. This is an expression of an earnest wish. In the previous verses he had stated the promises, or had shown what we had a right to expect as a consequence of liberality, he here unites the expression of an earnest desire that they might experience this themselves. The allusion is to the act of sowing seed. The idea is, that when a man scatters seed in his field, God provides him with the means of sowing again, he not only gives him a harvest to supply, his wants, but he blesses him also in giving him the ability to sow again. Such was the benevolent wish of Paul. He desired not only that God would supply their returning wants, but he desired also that he would give them the ability to do good again; that he would furnish them the means of future benevolence, he acknowledges God as the source of all increase, and wishes that they may experience the results of such increase. Perhaps in this language there is an allusion to Isa 55:10; and the idea is, that it is God who furnishes by his providence the seed to the sower. In like manner he will furnish you the means of doing good.

Minister bread for your food. Furnish you with an ample supply for your wants.

Multiply your seed sown. Greatly increase your means of doing good; make the results of all your benefactions so to abound that you may have the means of doing good again, and on a larger scale, as the seed sown in the earth is so increased that the farmer may have the means of sowing more abundantly again.

And increase the fruits of your righteousness. This evidently means, the results and effects of their benevolence. The word "righteousness" here refers to their liberality; and the wish of the apostle is, that the results of their beneficence might greatly abound, that they might have the means of doing extensive good, and that they might be the means of diffusing happiness from afar.

(b) "he that ministereth" Is 55:10 (c) "of your righteousness" Hoss 10:12

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower - The sower, as we have already seen, is he that gives alms of what he hath; and God, who requires him to give these alms, is here represented as providing him with the means. As in the creation, if God had not created the earth with every tree and plant with its seed in itself, so that a harvest came, without a previous ploughing and sowing, there could have been no seed to deposit in the earth; so, if God had not, in the course of his providence, given them the property they had, it would be impossible for them to give alms. And as even the well cultivated and sowed field would be unfruitful if God did not, by his unseen energy and blessing, cause it to bring forth, and bring to maturity; so would it have been with their property: it could not have increased; for without his blessing riches take wings and flee away, as an eagle towards heaven. Therefore, in every sense, it is God who ministers seed to the sower, and multiplies the seed sown. And as all this properly comes from God, and cannot exist without him, he has a right to require that it be dispensed in that way which he judges best. The word ὁ - επιχορηγων, he that ministereth, is very emphatic; it signifies he who leads up the chorus, from επι, to, and χορηγω, to lead the chorus; it means also to join to, associate, to supply or furnish one thing after another so that there be no want or chasm. Thus God is represented, in the course of his providence, associating and connecting causes and effects; keeping every thing in its proper place and state of dependence on another, and all upon himself; so that summer and winter, heat and cold, seed time and harvest, regularly succeed each other. Thus God leads up this grand chorus of causes and effects: provides the seed to the hand of the sower; gives him skill to discern the times when the earth should be prepared for the grain, and when the grain should be sowed; blesses the earth, and causes it to bring forth and bud, so that it may again minister seed to the sower and bread to the eater; and, by a watchful providence, preserves every thing. The figure is beautiful, and shows us the grand system of causes and effects, all directed by and under the immediate guidance and government of God himself. There is a fine exemplification of this in the same figure thus produced by the prophet. Hos 2:21, Hos 2:22 : I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens; and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. See the note at Hos 2:21. The fruits of your righteousness - Your beneficence; for so δικαιοσυνηis here to be understood. See the note on Mat 6:1, already referred to.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Money bestowed in charity, may to the carnal mind seem thrown away, but when given from proper principles, it is seed sown, from which a valuable increase may be expected. It should be given carefully. Works of charity, like other good works, should be done with thought and design. Due thought, as to our circumstances, and those we are about to relieve, will direct our gifts for charitable uses. Help should be given…

Read the full comment on 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 →

2 Corinthians 9:10 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ὁhoThe [One]G3588

δὲdenowG1161

ἐπιχορηγῶνepichorēgōnsupplyingG2023

σπόρονsporonseedG4703

τῷtōto himG3588

σπείροντιspeirontisowingG4687

καὶkaiandG2532

ἄρτονartonbreadG740

εἰςeisforG1519

βρῶσινbrōsinfoodG1035

χορηγήσειchorēgēseiwill supplyG5524

καὶkaiandG2532

πληθυνεῖplēthuneiwill multiplyG4129

τὸνtontheG3588

σπόρονsporonseed for sowingG4703

ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771

καὶkaiandG2532

αὐξήσειauxēseiwill increaseG837

τὰtatheG3588

γενήματαgenēmatafruits

τῆςtēsof theG3588

δικαιοσύνηςdikaiosunēsrighteousnessG1343

ὑμῶν.humōnof you.G4771

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 2 Corinthians 9:10

Isaiah 55:10
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
Hosea 10:12
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
2 Corinthians 9:6
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Ecclesiastes 11:6
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
Proverbs 11:18
The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
1 Thessalonians 3:12
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
Matthew 6:1
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Philippians 1:11
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 4:17
Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
Genesis 47:19
Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.
Genesis 47:23-24
Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
Genesis 1:11-12
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

he.
Ge 1:11,12; 47:19,23,24; Isa 55:10
multiply.
6; Pr 11:18; Ec 11:6; Php 4:17
increase.
Ho 10:12; Mt 6:1; Eph 5:9; Php 1:11; 1Th 3:12; 4:10

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

2 Corinthians 9:9
(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
2 Corinthians 9:10
Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
2 Corinthians 9:11
Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

Read all of 2 Corinthians 9

2 Corinthians 9:10 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y el que da simiente al que siembra, también dará pan para comer, y multiplicará vuestra sementera, y aumentará los crecimientos de los frutos de vuestra justicia;
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Or celui qui fournit de la semence au semeur et du pain à manger, fournira et multipliera votre semence, et augmentera les fruits de votre justice,
German Elberfelder 1871	Der aber Samen darreicht dem Sämann und Brot zur Speise, wird eure Saat darreichen und überströmend machen und die Früchte eurer Gerechtigkeit wachsen lassen,
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Qui autem administrat semen seminanti: et panem ad manducandum præstabit, et multiplicabit semen vestrum, et augebit incrementa frugum justitiæ vestræ: