Matthew 13–19

Chapter 13

Jesus Teaches in Parables

¹That 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“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“Others fell ¹among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

⁸“And others fell on the good soil and ^*yielded a crop, some a ^ahundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

⁹“^aHe who has ears, ¹let him hear.”

An Explanation

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

¹¹¹Jesus answered them, “^aTo you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

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“¹In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘^2aYou will keep on hearing, ³but will not understand;

⁴You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

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

With their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Otherwise 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 Sower Explained

¹⁸“^aHear then the parable of the sower.

¹⁹“When anyone hears ^athe ¹word 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“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 firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the ¹word, immediately he ^2afalls away.

²²“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man 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.”

Tares among Wheat

²⁴Jesus 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.” ’ ”

The Mustard Seed

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 smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that ^athe birds of the ¹air come and nest in its branches.”

The Leaven

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

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

³⁵This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“^aI will open My mouth in parables;

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

The Tares Explained

³⁶Then He left the crowds and went into ^athe house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “^bExplain to us the parable of the ¹tares of the field.”

³⁷And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is ^athe Son of Man,

³⁸and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are ^athe sons of the kingdom; and the tares are ^bthe sons of ^cthe evil one;

³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is ^athe ¹end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰“So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at ^athe ¹end of the age.

⁴¹“^aThe Son of Man ^bwill send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom ¹all ^cstumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

⁴²and ^awill throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place ^bthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³“^aThen the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ^bHe who has ears, ¹let him hear.

Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴“^aThe kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and ^bsells all that he has and buys that field.

A Costly Pearl

⁴⁵“Again, ^athe kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,

⁴⁶and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

A Dragnet

⁴⁷“Again, ^athe kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind;

⁴⁸and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.

⁴⁹“So it will be at ^athe ¹end of the age; the angels will come forth and ²take out the wicked from among the righteous,

⁵⁰and ^awill throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place ^bthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹“Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes.”

⁵²And ¹Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Jesus Revisits Nazareth

^53aWhen Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.

^54aHe came to ¹His hometown and ^bbegan teaching them in their synagogue, so that ^cthey were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these ²miraculous powers?

⁵⁵“Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not ^aHis mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

⁵⁶“And ^aHis sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”

⁵⁷And they took ^aoffense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “^bA prophet is not without honor except in his ¹hometown and in his own household.”

⁵⁸And He did not do many ¹miracles there because of their unbelief.

Chapter 14

John the Baptist Beheaded

^1aAt that ¹time ^bHerod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus,

²and said to his servants, “^aThis is John the Baptist; ¹he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³For when ^aHerod had John arrested, he bound him and put him ^bin prison because of ^cHerodias, the wife of his brother Philip.

⁴For John had been saying to him, “^aIt is not lawful for you to have her.”

⁵Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded ¹John as ^aa prophet.

⁶But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of ^aHerodias danced ¹before them and pleased ^bHerod,

⁷so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

⁸Having been prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

⁹Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of ¹his dinner guests.

¹⁰He sent and had John beheaded in the prison.

¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

¹²His disciples came and took away the body and buried ¹it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

Five Thousand Fed

^13aNow when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the ¹people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

¹⁴When He went ¹ashore, He ^asaw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and ^bhealed their sick.

¹⁵When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already ¹late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!”

¹⁷They said to Him, “We have here only ^afive loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸And He said, “Bring them here to Me.”

¹⁹Ordering the ¹people to ²sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^ablessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds,

²⁰and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full ^abaskets.

²¹There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^22aImmediately He ¹made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away.

²³After He had sent the crowds away, ^aHe went up on the mountain by Himself to pray;…