as you sow, so shall you reap

as you sow, so shall you reap

proverb Your actions dictate the consequences. The phrase is Biblical in origin. Of course you're exhausted in class—you stay up too late! As you sow, so shall you reap. He spent years trying to avoid paying taxes, and now he's facing nearly 10 years in prison for it. As you sow, so shall you reap.

See also: reap, shall

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

As you sow, so shall you reap,

 and As a man sows, so shall he reap.

Prov. Things will happen to you good or bad, according to how you behave. (Biblical.) You should stop being so cruel to other people. As you sow, so shall you reap. Fred built an immense fortune by swindling others, but lost it all when someone swindled him. As a man sows, so shall he reap.

See also: reap, shall

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.