Matthew 9:37
35 Then Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest-ready fields.”
4 Ezra 4:32
2 Esdras30 A grain of the evil seed was sown in the heart of Adam from the first; how much godlessness has it produced already! 31 How much more will it produce before the harvest! 32 Reckon this up: if one grain of evil seed has produced so great a crop of godlessness, how vast a harvest will there be when good seeds beyond number have been sown! 33 ‘I asked, ‘But when? How long have we to wait? Why are our lives so short and so miserable?’ 34 He replied, ‘Do not be in a greater hurry than the Most High himself. You are in a hurry for yourself alone; the Most High for many.
Notes and References
"... The image of a harvest for the end of the age appears in other parables. In addition to Matthew 9:37-38 (the fields are plentiful), the parable of the wicked tenants (21:34-41). In Matthew 3:12 John the Baptist said the one who is coming has his winnowing fork in his hand and he will gather the wheat into the barn and put the chaff on an unquenchable fire. The metaphor of a harvest for a final judgment on the day of the Lord appears in the Old Testament. In Joel 3:13, for example, “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great.” A similar image is used in Revelation 14:14-20 (compare 4 Ezra 4:28-32; 2 Baruch 70:2) ..."
Long, Phillip J. The Parable of the Weeds – Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43 (pp. 1-4) Grace Christian University, 2021