Matthew 13:1–35

The Parable of the Sower

¹On that day Jesus went out of ^athe house and was sitting ^bby the sea.

²And ¹large crowds gathered to Him, so ^aHe got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³And He spoke many things to them in ^aparables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

⁴and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

⁵“And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

⁶“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

⁷“And others fell ¹among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

⁸“And others fell on the good soil and were yielding ¹a crop, some a ^ahundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

⁹“^aHe who has ears, ¹let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

¹¹And ¹Jesus answered and said to them, “^aTo you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

¹²“^aFor whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

¹³“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while ^aseeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

¹⁴“And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘^1aYou will keep on hearing, ²but will not understand;

³You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

^15aFor the heart of this people has become dull,

And with their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Lest they would see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return,

And I would heal them.’

¹⁶“^aBut blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

¹⁷“For truly I say to you that ^amany prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹⁸“^aHear then the parable of the sower.

¹⁹“When anyone hears ^athe word of the kingdom and does not understand it, ^bthe evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

²⁰“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

²¹yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he ^1afalls away.

²²“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of ^athe ¹world and the ^bdeceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²³“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some ^aa hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

The Parable of Tares Among Wheat

²⁴He presented another parable to them, saying, “^aThe kingdom of heaven ¹may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

²⁵“But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed ¹tares among the wheat, and went away.

²⁶“But when the ¹wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

²⁷“The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? ¹How then does it have tares?’

²⁸“And he said to them, ‘An ¹enemy has done this!’ The slaves ^*said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’

²⁹“But he ^*said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

³⁰‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but ^agather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven

³¹He presented another parable to them, saying, “^aThe kingdom of heaven is like ^ba mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;

³²and this is the ¹smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the ²largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that ^athe birds of the ³air come and nest in its branches.”

³³He spoke another parable to them, “^aThe kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in ^1bthree sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

³⁴All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He was not speaking to them ^awithout a parable

³⁵so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,

“^aI will open My mouth in parables;

I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”