¹⁰Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets^l of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.^* ¹²For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.^* ¹³The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’^* ¹⁴With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

‘You will indeed listen but never understand,

and you will indeed look but never perceive.^*

¹⁵For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes,

so that they might not look with their eyes,

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart and turn—

and I would heal them.’^*

¹⁶“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.^* ¹⁷Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.^*

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹⁸“Hear, then, the parable of the sower. ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.^* ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.^m^* ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of thisⁿ age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.^* ²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”^*

Read in Logos

Footnotes

lOr mysteries
mOr stumbles
nSome ancient authorities read the

Cross references

*Mt 11:25; 19:11; Jn 6:65; 1 Cor 2:10; 1 Jn 2:27
*Lk 19:26
*Jer 5:21; Ezek 12:2
*Isa 6:9, 10; Ezek 12:2; Jn 12:40; Acts 28:26, 27; Rom 11:8
*Heb 5:11
*Mt 16:17; Lk 10:23, 24; Jn 20:29
*Heb 11:13; 1 Pet 1:10, 11
*Mt 4:23
*Mt 11:6
*Mt 19:23; Rom 12:2; 1 Cor 1:20; 2 Cor 4:4; Gal 1:4; Eph 2:2
*v 8