Luke 10:2

World English Bible (2000)

Then he said to them, "The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἔλεγεν οὖν πρὸς αὐτούς, Ὁ μὲν θερισμὸς πολύς, οἱ δὲ ἐργάται ὀλίγοι: δεήθητε οὖν τοῦ Κυρίου τοῦ θερισμοῦ, ὅπως ἐκβάλλῃ ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν θερισμὸν αὐτοῦ.

Transliteration

Elegen oun pros them, The men therismos polys, the de ergatai oligoi: deēthēte oun of the Kyriou of the therismou, hopōs ekballē ergatas into the therismon of him.

Grammar Details

• *Elegen*: imperfect active indicative, 3rd singular - was saying/kept saying
• *oun*: inferential conjunction - therefore/so
• *pros*: preposition + accusative - to/toward
• *men*: postpositive particle marking contrast with *de* - on one hand
• *therismos*: nominative, masculine, singular - harvest
• *polys*: nominative, masculine, singular - much/great/abundant
• *de*: postpositive conjunction marking contrast with *men* - but/and/on the other hand
• *ergatai*: nominative, masculine, plural - workers/laborers
• *oligoi*: nominative, masculine, plural - few/little
• *deēthēte*: aorist passive imperative, 2nd plural - request/beseech/pray to
• *Kyriou*: genitive, masculine, singular - Lord/Master
• *therismou*: genitive, masculine, singular - harvest
• *hopōs*: conjunction + subjunctive - so that/in order that
• *ekballē*: present active subjunctive, 3rd singular - send out/thrust out
• *ergatas*: accusative, masculine, plural - workers/laborers
• *therismon*: accusative, masculine, singular - harvest

Word Meanings

• *Elegen*: was saying/kept saying/continued to say
• *pros*: to/toward/with
• *therismos*: harvest/crop/reaping
• *polys*: much/great/abundant/plentiful
• *ergatai*: workers/laborers/those who work
• *deēthēte*: request/beseech/pray to/ask earnestly
• *Kyriou*: Lord/Master/Owner
• *ekballē*: send out/thrust out/drive out/push out

Referenced Verses

• Matt 9:36-38 : 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest."
• 1 Tim 4:10 : 10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we have set our trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
• 1 Tim 4:15-16 : 15 Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all. 16 Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
• 2 Thess 3:1 : 1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, even as also with you;
• 1 Tim 1:12-14 : 12 And I thank him who enabled me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he counted me faithful, appointing me to service; 13 although I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
• 1 Cor 3:6-9 : 6 I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's farming, God's building.
• Mark 16:15 : 15 He said to them, "Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.
• Jer 3:15 : 15 I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
• Ezek 34:2-6 : 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don't feed the sheep. 4 You haven't strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you have ruled over them. 5 They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. 6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was none who searched or sought.
• John 4:35-38 : 35 Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. 36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps.' 38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
• 1 Thess 5:12 : 12 But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,
• 1 Tim 5:17-18 : 17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain." And, "The laborer is worthy of his wages."
• 2 Tim 2:3-6 : 3 You therefore must endure hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. 5 Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn't crowned unless he has competed by the rules. 6 The farmers who labor must be the first to get a share of the crops.
• 2 Tim 4:5 : 5 But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
• Phlm 1:1 : 1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,
• Heb 3:6 : 6 but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.
• Rev 2:1 : 1 "To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: "He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lampstands says these things:
• Acts 8:4 : 4 Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word.
• Acts 11:19 : 19 They therefore who were scattered abroad by the oppression that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews only.
• Acts 13:2 : 2 As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them."
• Acts 13:4 : 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus.
• Acts 16:9-9 : 9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." 10 When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them.
• Acts 20:28 : 28 Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
• Zech 11:5 : 5 Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;' and their own shepherds don't pity them.
• Zech 11:17 : 17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!"
• Num 11:17 : 17 I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.
• Num 11:29 : 29 Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all Yahweh's people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them!"
• 1 Kgs 18:22 : 22 Then Elijah said to the people, "I, even I only, am left a prophet of Yahweh; but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men.
• 1 Kgs 22:6-8 : 6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, "Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?" They said, "Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king." 7 But Jehoshaphat said, "Isn't there here a prophet of Yahweh, that we may inquire of him?" 8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Jehoshaphat said, "Don't let the king say so."
• Ps 68:11 : 11 The Lord announced the word. The ones who proclaim it are a great company.
• Isa 56:9-9 : 9 All you animals of the field, come to devour, [yes], all you animals in the forest. 10 His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can't bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yes, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds who can't understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. 12 "Come," [say they], "I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, [a day] great beyond measure."
• Mark 16:20 : 20 They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
• Luke 9:1 : 1 He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.
• Matt 20:1 : 1 "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
• Mark 13:34 : 34 "It is like a man, traveling to another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch.
• Acts 26:15-18 : 15 "I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' "He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you; 17 delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you, 18 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
• 1 Thess 2:9 : 9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God.
• 1 Cor 12:28 : 28 God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.
• 1 Cor 15:10 : 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was bestowed on me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
• 2 Cor 6:1 : 1 Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain,
• Eph 4:7-9 : 7 But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore he says, "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." 9 Now this, "He ascended," what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. 11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; 12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
• Phil 2:21 : 21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
• Phil 2:25 : 25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;
• Phil 2:30 : 30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
• Col 1:29 : 29 for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
• Col 4:12 : 12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
• Acts 22:21 : 21 "He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.'"
• Rev 11:2-3 : 2 Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don't measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months. 3 I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."