¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven^(A) has been given to you,^(B) but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.^{(C) 13} This is why I speak to them in parables:

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled^(E) the prophecy of Isaiah:

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.^{(G) 17} For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see^(H) but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

³⁴ Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.^{(A) 35} So was fulfilled^(B) what was spoken through the prophet:

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable^(D) of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.^{(E) 38} The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,^{(F) 39} and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest^(G) is the end of the age,^(H) and the harvesters are angels.^(I)

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man^(J) will send out his angels,^(K) and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^{(L) 43} Then the righteous will shine like the sun^(M) in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.^(N)