1 That same day Jesus went out of the houseoFor ver. 1-15, see Mark 4:1-12; Luke 8:4-10 and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him,p[Mark 3:9; Luke 5:1-3] so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 Andqver. 34 he told them many things in parables, saying: r[Isa. 55:10; Amos 9:13] “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 butsJames 1:11 when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root,tJohn 15:6 they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell amonguJer. 4:3 thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, somevver. 23; Gen. 26:12 a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 wSee ch. 11:15 He who has ears, let him hear. ”
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables? ”
11 And he answered them, xch. 19:11; Col. 1:27; [1 Cor. 2:6-10; 1 John 2:20, 27]; See ch. 11:25 “To you it has been given to knowySee Rom. 16:25 the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 zch. 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18; 19:26; [John 15:2; James 4:6] For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not,a[Rev. 2:5] even what he has will be taken away.
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, becausebDeut. 29:4; Jer. 5:21; Ezek. 12:2; Rom. 11:8; 2 Cor. 3:14; 4:4; [Isa. 42:19, 20] seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear,cver. 19, 51; ch. 15:10; 16:12; Mark 8:21 nor do they understand.
14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
dJohn 12:40; Acts 28:26, 27; Cited from Isa. 6:9, 10 ‘You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
15 For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their earse[Heb. 5:11] they can barely hear,
andf[John 9:39, 41] their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
andg[Rom. 10:10] understand with their heart
andhSee Luke 22:32 turn, and I would heal them. ’
16 ButiLuke 10:23, 24; [ch. 16:17] blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 i[See ver. 16 above] Truly, I say to you,jHeb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 1:10-12; [John 8:56] many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18 kFor ver. 18-23, see Mark 4:13-20; Luke 8:11-15 Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word oflver. 38; ch. 4:23; 8:12 the kingdom andmSee ver. 13 does not understand it,nJohn 17:15; Eph. 6:16; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 John 2:13, 14; 3:12; 5:18, 19 the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediatelyo[Isa. 58:2; Ezek. 33:31, 32; Mark 6:20; John 5:35] receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, butpGal. 1:6; [Hos. 6:4; Gal. 5:7] endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediatelyqSee ch. 11:6 he falls away.1Or stumbles 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, butrSee ch. 6:25 the cares ofs2 Tim. 4:10 the world andt1 Tim. 6:9, 10, 17; [ch. 19:23; Mark 10:23; Acts 5:1-11; Heb. 3:13] the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word andm[See ver. 19 above] understands it. He indeeduHos. 14:8; John 15:5, 16; Phil. 1:11; Col. 1:6 bears fruit and yields, in one casevver. 8 a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. ”
24 He put another parable before them, saying, wver. 37-42; [Mark 4:26-29] “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? ’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this. ’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them? ’ 29 But he said,x[1 Cor. 4:5] ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers,ych. 3:12 Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. ’ ”
31 He put another parable before them, saying, zFor ver. 31, 32, see Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18, 19 “The kingdom of heaven is likeach. 17:20; Luke 17:6 a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. ”
33 He told them another parable. bLuke 13:20, 21 “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid incGen. 18:6 three measures of flour, till it wasd1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9 all leavened. ”
34 ever. 3; Mark 4:33, 34; [John 16:25, 29] All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
fCited from Ps. 78:2 “I will open my mouth in parables;
g[ver. 11; Rom. 16:25, 26; 1 Cor. 2:7] I will utter what has been hiddenhch. 25:34; Luke 11:50; [John 17:24; Eph. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:20] since the foundation of the world. ”
36 Then he left the crowds and went intoiver. 1 the house. And his disciples came to him, saying,jver. 24-30; [ch. 15:15] “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. ” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed isk[ver. 43] the children of the kingdom. The weeds arelJohn 8:44; Acts 13:10; 1 John 3:10; [ch. 23:15]; See ver. 19 the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.mJoel 3:13; Rev. 14:15 The harvest isnver. 49; ch. 24:3; 28:20; [Dan. 12:13; Heb. 9:26] the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weedsoJohn 15:6; [ch. 3:12] are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be atn[See ver. 39 above] the close of the age. 41 pch. 24:31 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom allqch. 18:7; [Zeph. 1:3] causes of sin andrch. 7:23 all law-breakers, 42 sver. 50; Rev. 9:2; [Rev. 19:20; 20:10] and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that placetSee ch. 8:12 there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 ThenuProv. 4:18; Dan. 12:3; [1 Cor. 15:41, 42] the righteous will shine like the sunv[ver. 38; ch. 25:34; 26:29; Luke 12:32] in the kingdom of their Father.wSee ch. 11:15 He who has ears, let him hear.
44 The kingdom of heavenxProv. 2:4 is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joyy[ch. 25:9; Prov. 23:23; Phil. 3:7, 8] he goes and sells all that he has andz[Isa. 55:1; Rev. 3:18] buys that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on findingach. 7:6 one pearl of great value,y[See ver. 44 above] went and sold all that he had andz[See ver. 44 above] bought it.
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven isbch. 4:19 like a net that was thrown into the sea andc[ver. 38; ch. 22:10; 25:2] gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full,dJohn 21:11 men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be ateSee ver. 39 the close of the age. The angels will come out andfch. 25:32; [ver. 41] separate the evil from the righteous 50 gSee ver. 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that placegSee ver. 42 there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 hver. 10-16; [John 10:6; 16:29] Have you understood all these things? ” They said to him, “Yes. ” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore everyich. 23:34 scribejch. 28:19 who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, whok[ch. 12:35] brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. ”
53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 lFor ver. 54-58, see Mark 6:1-6; [Luke 4:16-30] and coming tomch. 2:23; Luke 4:23 his hometownnSee ch. 4:23 he taught them in their synagogue, so thatoSee ch. 7:28 they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 p[Luke 4:22; John 6:42] Is not thisq[Mark 6:3] the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are notrSee ch. 12:46 his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things? ” 57 AndsSee ch. 11:6 they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, tLuke 4:24; John 4:44; [Jer. 11:21; 12:6; John 7:5] “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household. ” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there,u[ch. 17:20] because of their unbelief.