What Does John 4:38 Mean in the King James?

I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

John 4:38 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The harvest arrives as shared inheritance: you gather what another person’s toil has already made ready.

THE MEANING

You are sent into work already underway, gathering fruit whose preparation you did not control. Another person’s labor is not erased by your arrival; you enter it and carry its fruit forward. The verse makes fruitful work larger than one person’s beginning or finish.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that meaningful fruit only counts when you started the work or did all the labor yourself.

THE ROOT

κεκοπιάκασιν

kekopiakasin

GROWS FROM

⁨κοπ-⁩ (⁨κοπιάω⁩ / ⁨κόπος⁩ word-family)

To toil and grow weary; exertion.

“laboured / labours” in this verse is kekopiakasin. The Greek repeats this word-family for both the work others did and the work you enter. The verse joins their spent effort to your present participation: your arrival continues the labor rather than replacing it.

ALSO GROWS

kopiaō: To toil or grow weary.

κοπιάω

This is the verb used for the others’ labor, emphasizing effort already spent.

kopos: Toil or labor.

κόπος

This noun names the labor you enter, linking their effort to your participation.

θερίζειν

therizein

GROWS FROM

⁨θερι-⁩ (⁨θερίζω⁩ word-family)

To reap or gather a harvest.

“reap” in this verse is therizein. Reaping is the gathering of what has reached readiness through prior work. Here, the reaper’s role begins after others have labored, showing that fruit can be shared across different people’s efforts.

ALSO GROWS

therismos: Harvest.

θερισμός

This noun names the gathered crop, the fruit made ready for reaping.

theristēs: Reaper or harvest worker.

θεριστής

This word names the person who gathers the harvest, highlighting a distinct role within the shared work.

THE PATTERN

Fruit often depends on work already carried by another, and a new arrival continues that work rather than erasing it.

And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

Deuteronomy 6:11 · KJVYou receive the fruit of work you did not begin, entering into what another has made ready.

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

Matthew 9:37 · KJVThe harvest is already abundant, while the work of gathering it still awaits people willing to enter it.

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:6 · KJVDifferent people carry different parts of the work, while the fruit grows beyond any one person’s contribution.

THE THREAD

Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

1 Corinthians 3:8 · KJV

Both verses use the Greek word ⁨κόπος⁩ (kopos), meaning toil or labor. John describes entering another’s toil; this verse shows planting and watering as joined work, while still recognizing each person’s labor.

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