Galatians 6:9
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Study Note
Study Note
The exhortation 'let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not' employs the agricultural metaphor of sowing and harvesting (introduced in v. 7–8) to ground ethical perseverance in eschatological confidence about outcome. The 'due season' (kairō idiō) is the eschatological harvest, which Paul elsewhere identifies as the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6; 2:16), making the present 'sowing' of good works meaningful within a future-oriented framework. The specific danger named — 'if we faint not' (mē eklyomenoi) — echoes Hebrews 12:3 and 12:5's warning about losing heart under trial, suggesting a common pastoral challenge in early Christian communities under pressure. The verse has been widely used in Christian ethics to resist cynicism about the apparent ineffectiveness of sustained moral action.
Other Translations
And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
and in the doing good we may not be faint-hearted, for at the proper time we shall reap--not desponding;
And let us not get tired of well-doing; for at the right time we will get in the grain, if we do not give way to weariness.
Cross References
That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter …
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they …
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; …
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by …
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in …
For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil …