# reap what you sow

idiom · CEFR B2

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/reap-what-you-sow
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

Your actions produce their own inevitable consequences, good or bad.

## Examples

- He was rude to everyone, and now he reaps what he sows.
- You reap what you sow: years of ignoring the maintenance, and now the whole roof needs replacing.
- The company cut corners on safety for a decade to boost margins, and when the lawsuits finally arrived, few observers had much sympathy — it was reaping what it had sown.

## Origin

The phrase comes from Paul's letter to the Galatians, 6:7: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The metaphor is agricultural and exact — plant one crop and you will harvest that crop, not another. Paul's point is moral cause and effect: conduct has consequences that ripen in their own time, and there is no cheating the process. Sow selfishness and you gather its fruit; sow generously and the harvest matches. English uses the phrase both ways but leans toward the cautionary. To reap what you sow is to face the results of your own earlier actions — usually said when someone's troubles are the predictable outcome of how they behaved.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.