Matthew 13:24–46

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶When the plants grew and the ears of corn began to form, then the weeds showed up. ²⁷The man’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, it was good seed you sowed in your field; where did the weeds come from?’ ²⁸‘It was some enemy who did this,’ he answered. ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him. ²⁹‘No,’ he answered, ‘because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest. Then I will tell the harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them, and then to gather in the wheat and put it in my barn.’ ”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³¹Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. ³²It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.”

The Parable of the Yeast

³³Jesus told them still another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A woman takes some yeast and mixes it with forty litres of flour until the whole batch of dough rises.”

Jesus’s Use of Parables

³⁴Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the crowds; he would not say a thing to them without using a parable. ^35*He did this to make what the prophet had said come true:

“I will use parables when I speak to them;

I will tell them things unknown since the creation of the world.”

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

³⁶When Jesus had left the crowd and gone indoors, his disciples came to him and said, “Tell us what the parable about the weeds in the field means.”

³⁷Jesus answered, “The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man; ³⁸the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One; ³⁹and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels. ⁴⁰Just as the weeds are gathered up and burnt in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of the age: ⁴¹the Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things, ⁴²and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and grind their teeth. ⁴³Then God’s people will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears!

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴“The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl

⁴⁵“Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls, ⁴⁶and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.