Matthew 13:1–35

Parable of the Soils

Mark 4:1–20; Luke 8:4–15

13On the same day Jesus went out of the house ^aand sat by the sea. ^2bAnd great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that ^cHe got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

³Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: ^d“Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some ^ea hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ^9fHe who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

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

¹¹He answered and said to them, “Because ^git has been given to you to know the ¹mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ^12hFor whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

ⁱ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,

And seeing you will see and not ^jperceive;

¹⁵For the hearts of this people have grown dull.

Their ears ^kare hard of hearing,

And their eyes they have ^lclosed,

Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,

So that I ²should ^mheal them.’

¹⁶But ⁿblessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷for assuredly, I say to you ^othat many 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.

^18p“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: ¹⁹When anyone hears the word ^qof the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. ²⁰But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately ^rreceives it with joy; ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when ^stribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately ^the stumbles. ²²Now ^uhe who received seed ^vamong the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears ^wfruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Parable of the Wheat and Tares

²⁴Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but ^xgather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

Mark 4:30–32; Luke 13:18, 19

³¹Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ^y“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, ³²which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a ^ztree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Parable of the Leaven

Luke 13:20, 21

^33aAnother parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three ³measures of meal till ^bit was all leavened.”

^34cAll these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, ³⁵that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

^d“I will open My mouth in parables;

^eI will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”