KJV: I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
YLT: I sent you to reap that on which ye have not laboured; others laboured, and ye into their labour have entered.
Darby: I have sent you to reap that on which ye have not laboured; others have laboured, and ye have entered into their labours.
ASV: I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.
| ἀπέστειλα | sent |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular Root: ἀποστέλλω Sense: to order (one) to go to a place appointed. |
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| θερίζειν | to reap |
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Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active Root: θερίζω Sense: to reap, harvest. |
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| κεκοπιάκατε | have toiled for |
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Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural Root: κοπιάω Sense: to grow weary, tired, exhausted (with toil or burdens or grief). |
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| ἄλλοι | others |
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Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Plural Root: ἄλλος Sense: another, other. |
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| κεκοπιάκασιν | have toiled |
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Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: κοπιάω Sense: to grow weary, tired, exhausted (with toil or burdens or grief). |
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| εἰς | into |
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Parse: Preposition Root: εἰς Sense: into, unto, to, towards, for, among. |
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| κόπον | labor |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: κόπος Sense: a beating. |
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| αὐτῶν | of them |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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| εἰσεληλύθατε | have entered |
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Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural Root: εἰσέρχομαι Sense: to go out or come in: to enter. |
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Greek Commentary for John 4:38
Emphatic use of εγω egō and first aorist active indicative of αποστελλω apostellō common in John for to send. Whereon ye have not laboured Perfect active indicative of κοπιαω kopiaō for which see John 4:6. So also κεκοπιακασιν kekopiakasin in next line. The disciples had done no sowing here in Sychar, only Jesus and the woman. Others And ye Emphatic contrast. Have entered Perfect active indicative of εισερχομαι eiserchomai Into their labour Into the fruit and blessed results of their toil This is always true as seen in Acts 8:5-7, Acts 8:14. [source]
The I is emphatic. The aorist tense points back to the mission of the disciples as involved in their original call. [source]
Jesus himself and all who had prepared the way for Him, such as John the Baptist. [source]
The perfect tense. Rev., rightly, have labored, their labor showing its effects in the present case. On the word labor, see on Luke 5:5. Compare Joshua 24:13. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 4:38
This rendering cannot be correct, for the verb is active, not passive, meaning to deliver up. Hence it is usually explained, shall have delivered itself up to harvest; which is stilted and artificial. Rev. is ripe, is a free rendering from the margin of A.V. It is, perhaps, better to explain, as Meyer does, whose rendering is adopted by Rev. in margin: When the fruit shall have allowed, i.e., shall have admitted of being harvested. Xenophon and Herodotus use the word in the sense of permit or allow; and an exact parallel to this occurs in the historian Polybius (xxii., 24,9): “When the season permitted ( παραδιδούσης ) Putteth in ( ἀποστέλλει )Lit., sendeth forth. So Rev. in margin. The rendering, putteth in, misses the figure. The verb is the same as that used of sending forth the apostles to reap the harvest of souls. See especially John 4:38: “I sent ( ἀπέστειλα ) you to reap. ” [source]
Sends forth the sickle. The word for apostle comes from this verb. See note on John 4:38: “I sent you forth to reap” Sickle (δρεπανον drepanon) here by metonymy stands for the reapers who use it when the harvest stands ready for it (παρεστηκεν parestēken stands by the side, present perfect indicative). [source]