Matthew 9:38 Meaning and Explanation
“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Anyone who has looked at a job far larger than the available help knows the feeling behind this verse. Jesus names the shortage openly and then does something unexpected with it. His instruction goes upward before it goes outward, which tells us whose work the harvest actually is and where the supply of workers comes from.
Facing crowds without a shepherd, Jesus gives his disciples one instruction: ask the owner of the harvest to thrust workers out into his own field. The need is answered first by prayer.
The Context of Matthew 9:38
The verse closes Matthew 9. Verse 35 summarizes Jesus travelling through all the cities and villages, teaching, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness. Verse 36 reports that the sight of the multitudes moved him with compassion, since they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Verse 37 states the imbalance: a plenteous harvest and few labourers. Verse 38 is the instruction that follows, spoken to the disciples. Matthew 10:1 then records Jesus calling the twelve and giving them authority, so the answer to the prayer begins in the very next sentence.
What Does Matthew 9:38 Mean?
Every phrase assigns ownership. He is 'the Lord of the harvest', and the field at the end of the sentence is 'his harvest'. The labourers are sent by him into work that already belongs to him, which settles the question of authority before anyone sets out. 'Pray ye therefore' links the command to the shortage just named, making prayer the first response to an overwhelming need. The verb rendered 'send forth' is vigorous, closer to thrust out than to politely dispatch. The picture is of a landowner at harvest time propelling hands into a ripe field while the window for gathering stands open.
The harvest image sits on top of the shepherd image from verse 36, and the two together describe the same crowds from different angles. As sheep they need guidance and protection. As a harvest they are ready to be gathered in. Prophets used both pictures for Israel, and the prophets also warned that harvest can mean judgment when a nation is ripe for it. Here the tone is compassion. Matthew places the instruction at the seam between Jesus' own itinerant ministry in chapter 9 and the sending of the twelve in chapter 10, so the prayer for labourers stands exactly where labourers first appear.
Jesus is the one who sees the crowds and feels the compassion, and he is also the one who sends. John 4:35 has him telling disciples in Samaria to lift up their eyes and look at fields already white for harvest, using the same picture in a different country. The pattern held after the resurrection. Acts 13:2 shows the church at Antioch praying and fasting when the Holy Ghost set apart Barnabas and Saul for a work, which is what this instruction looks like when it is obeyed. The Lord of the harvest keeps answering the prayer he taught.
Matthew 9:38 in the Original Language
ekballo (ἐκβάλλω), 'send forth' -- a forceful verb meaning to cast or drive out, used elsewhere for expelling demons and for putting someone outside. Applied to labourers it suggests urgency in the sending, as though the ripeness of the field presses the workers into it.
Bible Verses Related to Matthew 9:38
“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”
- Matthew 9:36
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”
- Matthew 10:1
“Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”
- Luke 10:2
“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”
- John 4:35
Where Matthew 9:38 Echoes in Scripture
Luke 10:2 repeats the saying almost word for word, placed just before the seventy are sent out two by two. The repetition in a second setting shows that Jesus taught this as standing practice for his followers. In both Gospels the prayer comes immediately before a sending, and in both the people praying are the ones who go. Asking for labourers has a way of enlisting the person who asks, which the arrangement of both passages quietly makes clear.
How to Apply Matthew 9:38 Today
Congregations often respond to shortage with recruitment drives, and Jesus starts somewhere quieter. We can name specific fields in prayer: a neighbourhood with no one visiting the housebound, a language group nobody in our circle can speak to, a family we know who have no one to sit with them. Praying that way tends to sharpen our own eyes. It also frees us from the crushing idea that the harvest depends on our energy, since the field, the timing, and the workers all belong to the Lord who sends.
Reflection & Prayer
Which field have we been surveying with worry that we could begin surveying with prayer? A prayer for the week: Lord of the harvest, you see the scattered ones I cannot see. Send labourers into every corner of your field, and if the sending includes me, make me willing before I am ready. Amen.