9:37a–b
The harvest is plentiful: This is the first part of an extended metaphor. In this part, people who are ready to believe are like fruit/grain that is ready to be picked/cut and put in a safe place. There are many of these people just like the ripe fruit/grain is plentiful.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the metaphor:
• Keep the metaphor. For example:
The harvest is large (Good News Translation)
-or-
The grain/fruit is ripe, and it is plentiful.
-or-
The time to pick the grain has arrived, and the grain is abundant.
• Keep the metaphor and put the meaning in a footnote. A sample footnote is below under General Comment on 9:37–38.
• Make the topic explicit. For example:
There are many people to harvest (New Century Version)
• Change the metaphor to a simile and make the parts explicit. For example:
⌊Many people are ready to believe in me like⌋ lots of crops that are ready to be harvested.
9:37c
but: There is a contrast here. The contrast is between the large number of people needed to harvest the plentiful harvest, and the actual number of people available. The Berean Standard Bible indicates this contrast with the conjunction but.
the workers are few: This is the second part of the metaphor. In this part, the few people who are available to tell people the good news are compared to the few laborers/workers who are available to harvest the crop.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the metaphor:
• Keep the metaphor. For example:
there are few workers to gather it in (Good News Translation)
-or-
there are not many harvesters
• Change the metaphor to a simile and make the parts explicit. For example:
But ⌊there are few people to tell them the good news about me like⌋ there are few workers to harvest the crops.
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