You Reap What You Sow — Galatians 6:7
Quick Answer
The phrase "you reap what you sow" comes from Galatians 6:7: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Paul writes it to the churches in Galatia.
Galatians 6:7 in Five Translations
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.— Galatians 6:7 (NIV)
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.— Galatians 6:7 (ESV)
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.— Galatians 6:7 (KJV)
Don’t be misled — you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.— Galatians 6:7 (NLT)
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.— Galatians 6:7 (NASB)
Read the full chapter: Galatians 6
The Context: Galatians 6
Paul is closing his letter to the Galatian churches with practical instruction about how believers treat one another — restoring someone caught in sin gently, carrying each other's burdens, and supporting those who teach.
The sowing-and-reaping line lands in the middle of that. It is followed immediately by verse 8, which names the two kinds of sowing Paul has in mind: sowing to please the flesh, and sowing to please the Spirit.
Verse 9 then turns it into encouragement rather than warning: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
The passage in context (NIV)
7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
What the Verse Means
The image is agricultural and would have been obvious to Paul's readers: what comes up in a field is determined by what went into it. Paul applies that to moral and spiritual life — the direction a person invests in is the direction their life will yield.
The phrase "God cannot be mocked" sharpens it. The Greek verb (mykterizo) carries the sense of turning up the nose, sneering. Paul's point is that no one outwits this principle, however they may act as though the connection between conduct and consequence can be dodged.
Read with verses 8 and 9 together, the passage cuts both ways. It is a warning about self-indulgence and, in the same breath, an encouragement that persistent good is not wasted even when the harvest is slow.
A Common Misreading
The phrase is often used as a karmic principle — that every misfortune is a payment for some earlier wrong, and every success is earned. Paul is not offering an explanation for why specific bad things happen to specific people.
The book of Job exists in large part to reject exactly that reasoning. Job's friends insist his suffering must be the harvest of hidden sin, and the book treats them as wrong.
Paul is describing a real moral trajectory over a life, not a ledger that settles every account visibly and on schedule. Verse 9's "at the proper time" concedes that the timing is not ours to see.
Related Verses
Galatians 6:8
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
The very next verse, naming the two kinds of sowing.
Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Paul turns the principle into encouragement not to give up.
Job 4:8
As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
Eliphaz uses the same image — in a speech the book ultimately rejects.
Hosea 8:7
“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no head; it will produce no flour. Were it to yield grain, foreigners would swallow it up.
The prophetic version: "they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."
Frequently Asked Questions
What Bible verse says "you reap what you sow"?
Galatians 6:7. The NIV renders it: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." The KJV reads: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Is "you reap what you sow" the same as karma?
No. Karma is an impersonal cosmic mechanism that balances every action. Galatians 6:7 describes a moral order under a personal God, and Paul immediately frames it in terms of sowing to the flesh or to the Spirit. The Bible also explicitly resists the idea that all suffering is deserved — the book of Job rejects that reasoning at length.
Where else does the Bible talk about sowing and reaping?
Hosea 8:7 warns that those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. Job 4:8 has Eliphaz use the image, though the book treats his conclusion as wrong. 2 Corinthians 9:6 applies it to generosity: whoever sows sparingly reaps sparingly.
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