Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy - "sow to yourselves FOR lª- righteousness" (as the object of your sowing). Righteousness is not the seed, but the fruit sought to be obtained. Continuation of the image in Hosea 10:11 (Proverbs 11:18, "The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward"). Make righteousness your aim, and ye shall reap the reward-a reward not of debt, but of grace. Reap in mercy - the result of your sowing for righteousness shall be, ye shall reap 'according to х lªpiy (H6310)] the measure of (the divine) mercy,' which over and above repays the goodness or "mercy" which we show to our fellow-man (Luke 6:38). You shall reap not merely in proportion to what you have sown, or what justice would entitle you to, but according to the measure of the fullness of God's mercy, which is boundless.
Break up your fallow ground - remove your superstitions and vices, and be renewed.
For it is time to seek the Lord, till he come - though not answered immediately, persevere unceasingly "until He come." The Hebrew х daarash (H1875)] for "seek" implies an anxious, diligent, persevering application of one's whole energy to seeking the Lord, not giving over the search "until" х `ad (H5704)] the object is attained, and "the Lord (Christ) shall come." Since coming is not applicable to God the Father, the Son of God must be meant, whose coming all the prophets foretold, and all the Old Testament saints looked for. So Abraham, John 8:56; Jacob, Genesis 49:18; Simeon, Luke 2:25; Joseph of Arimathea, Mark 15:43; John the Baptist, Matthew 11:3.
And rain - send down as a copious shower. (Psalms 72:6, "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass;" Isaiah 14:8, "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness").
Righteousness upon you - i:e., the reward of righteousness - i:e., salvation, temporal and spiritual (1 Samuel 26:23: cf. Joel 2:23, "Rejoice in the Lord your God ... he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain"). But it is better to translate х yowreh (H3138)] 'teach righteousness unto you.' (Compare John 3:2; John 4:25; Isaiah 2:3).