2:6a

The hardworking farmer: This verse has a third comparison. In this verse Paul compared a person who serves God to a farmer. A farmer must work hard if he wants to have good crops. In the same way, Timothy would have to work hard serving God if he wanted to receive a reward from God.

Paul was speaking in a general way about farmers. He was not talking about a specific farmer. In some languages, people do not use a definite article like the English word “the” unless they are referring to a specific person. If your language is like that, you could say “a farmer who works hard….”

2:6b

should be the first to partake of the crops: There are two ways to interpret the word first.

(1) It refers to the farmer. The hardworking farmer should be the first person to receive some of the harvest. For example, the New Century Version says:

The farmer who works hard should be the first person to get some of the food that was grown.

See also Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Contemporary English Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Version.

(2) It refers to the harvest/crop. The hardworking farmer should receive the first portion of the harvest. For example, Good News Translation says:

The farmer who has done the hard work should have the first share of the harvest.

See also Revised Standard Version, God’s Word, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, NET Bible.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

the crops: The phrase the crops refers to the food that the farmer gathers/harvests. It is a general word referring to the harvest of any fruit, vegetable, or grain that someone has planted.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.