Matthew 13:1–15

The Parable of the Sower

13:1-15^pp — Mk 4:1–12; Lk 8:4–10 13:16,17^pp — Lk 10:23,24 13:18-23^pp — Mk 4:13–20; Lk 8:11–15

That same day Jesus went out of the house^a and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat^b and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred,^c sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”^d

The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven^e has been given to you,^f but not to them. Those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance. As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them.^g This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;

though hearing, they do not hear or understand.^h

In them is fulfilledⁱ the prophecy of Isaiah:

“ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;

you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

For this people’s heart has become calloused;

they hardly hear with their ears,

and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’^j