Scripture Verse

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him. Psalm 126:6

Introduction

Words: Knowles Shaw, 1874. Shaw wrote mu­sic for these lyr­ics, but George Mi­nor’s tune is un­ive­rsal­ly used to­day.

Music: George A. Mi­nor, 1880 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Mi­nor (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Knowles Shaw (1834–1878)

Lyrics

Sowing in the morn­ing, sow­ing seeds of kind­ness,
Sowing in the noon­tide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the har­vest, and the time of reap­ing,
We shall come re­joic­ing, bring­ing in the sheaves.

Refrain

Bringing in the sheaves, bring­ing in the sheaves,
We shall come re­joic­ing, bring­ing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bring­ing in the sheaves,
We shall come re­joic­ing, bring­ing in the sheaves,

Sowing in the sun­shine, sow­ing in the shadows,
Fearing nei­ther clouds nor win­ter’s chill­ing breeze;
By and by the har­vest, and the la­bor ended,
We shall come re­joic­ing, bring­ing in the sheaves.

Refrain

Going forth with weep­ing, sow­ing for the Mas­ter,
Though the loss sus­tained our Spi­rit oft­en grieves;
When our weep­ing’s ov­er, He will bid us wel­come,
We shall come re­joic­ing, bring­ing in the sheaves.

Refrain