za.ra describes putting seed into land for cultivation, and it also frames actions and outcomes through the image of planting.

The term most often describes agricultural sowing: placing seed in soil, whether commanded, forbidden, completed, or described as producing a harvest. Several passages apply the agricultural action figuratively to righteousness, injustice, trouble, tears, wind, and the future planting of people and animals; a smaller group uses seed-bearing or conception language.

1. Planting seed in cultivated land · dominant

   This is the regular agricultural use, with Qal forms describing people who sow fields, soil, vineyards, or seed. In Exodus 23:10 the APB renders the clause "you shall sow your land and gather its produce," while Genesis 26:12 reports that Isaac sowed in the land and found a hundredfold; Leviticus 25:4 prohibits sowing the soil during the seventh year.

   Exodus 23:10Genesis 26:12Leviticus 25:4Deuteronomy 22:9Isaiah 30:23Psalm 107:37
2. Figurative planting that brings an outcome · common

   Agricultural language is applied to conduct, suffering, and anticipated results. Hosea 10:12 joins the imperative with righteousness and reaping, while Hosea 8:7 says that people sow wind and reap the whirlwind; Job 4:8 and Proverbs 22:8 likewise pair sowing trouble or injustice with a resulting harvest. In Jeremiah 31:27, the first-person form describes sowing the houses of Israel and Judah with human and animal seed.

   Hosea 10:12Hosea 8:7Job 4:8Proverbs 22:8Psalm 126:5Jeremiah 31:27
3. Seed-bearing or conception language · occasional

   In Genesis 1:11 and Genesis 1:12, active participles occur in clauses about plants and trees yielding seed. Genesis 1:29 again describes vegetation yielding seed, while Leviticus 12:2 and Numbers 5:28 place the term in clauses about a woman conceiving or being cleared and conceiving seed.

   Genesis 1:11Genesis 1:12Genesis 1:29Leviticus 12:2Numbers 5:28

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly uses "sow" for agricultural clauses and preserves harvest-related imagery in figurative contexts such as "sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." In seed-bearing and conception clauses it uses expressions such as "yielding seed" and "conceives seed"; These renderings show the clause's presentation rather than a fixed English equivalent.