Matthew 13-14 (Amplified Bible)

Matthew 13

 ¹THAT SAME day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting beside the sea.

    ²But such great crowds gathered about Him that He got into a boat and remained sitting there, while all the throng stood on the shore.

    ³And He told them many things in parables (stories by way of illustration and comparison), saying, A sower went out to sow.

    ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate them up.

    ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil; and at once they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

    ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up and withered away.

    ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out.

    ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain--some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some thirty.

    ⁹He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him ^[a]consider and ^[b]perceive and comprehend by hearing.

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

    ¹¹And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

    ¹²For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will ^[c]be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

    ¹³This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because ^[d]having the power of seeing, they do not see; and ^[e]having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand.

    ¹⁴In them indeed is ^[f]the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive.

    ¹⁵For this nation's heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them.^(A)

    ¹⁶But blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[g]to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.

    ¹⁷Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

    ¹⁸Listen then to the [meaning of the] parable of the sower:

    ^19[h]While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside.

    ²⁰As for what was sown on thin (rocky) soil, this is he who hears the Word and at once welcomes and accepts it with joy;

    ²¹Yet it has no real root in him, but is temporary (inconstant, ^[i]lasts but a little while); and when affliction or trouble or persecution comes on account of the Word, at once he is caused to stumble [he is repelled and ^[j]begins to distrust and desert Him Whom he ought to trust and obey] and he falls away.

    ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the Word, and it yields no fruit.

    ²³As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.

    ²⁴Another parable He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

    ²⁵But while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed also darnel (weeds resembling wheat) among the wheat, and went on his way.

    ²⁶So when the plants sprouted and formed grain, the darnel (weeds) appeared also.

    ²⁷And the servants of the owner came to him and said, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then how does it have darnel shoots in it?

    ²⁸He replied to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and weed them out?

    ²⁹But he said, No, lest in gathering the wild wheat (weeds resembling wheat), you root up the [true] wheat along with it.

    ³⁰Let them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather the darnel first and bind it in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my granary.

    ³¹Another story by way of comparison He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.

    ³²Of all the seeds it is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and find shelter in its branches.

    ³³He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven (^[k]sour dough) which a woman took and covered over in three measures of meal or flour till all of it was leavened.^(B)

    ³⁴These things ^[l]all taken together Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, without a parable He said nothing to them.

    ³⁵This was in fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet: I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things that have been hidden since the foundation of the world.^(C)

    ³⁶Then He left the throngs and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him saying, Explain to us the parable of the darnel in the field.

    ³⁷He answered, He Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

    ³⁸The field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the kingdom; the darnel is the children of the evil one,

    ³⁹And the enemy who sowed it is the devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels.

    ⁴⁰Just as the darnel (weeds resembling wheat) is gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age.

    ⁴¹The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [^[m]persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly,

    ⁴²And will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.

    ⁴³Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening, and let him ^[n]consider and perceive and understand by hearing.^(D)

    ⁴⁴The kingdom of heaven is like ^[o]something precious buried in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.

    ⁴⁵Again the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a dealer in search of fine and ^[p]precious pearls,

    ⁴⁶Who, on finding a single pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.

    ⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a ^[q]dragnet which was cast into the sea and gathered in fish of every sort.

    ⁴⁸When it was full, men dragged it up on the beach, and sat down and sorted out the good fish into baskets, but the worthless ones they threw away.

    ⁴⁹So it will be at the close and consummation of the age. The angels will go forth and separate the wicked from the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God)

    ⁵⁰And cast them [the wicked] into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.

    ⁵¹Have you understood ^[r]all these things [parables] taken together? They said to Him, Yes, Lord.

    ⁵²He said to them, Therefore every ^[s]teacher and interpreter of the Sacred Writings who has been instructed about and trained for the kingdom of heaven and has ^[t]become a disciple is like a householder who brings forth out of his storehouse treasure that is new and [treasure that is] old [the fresh as well as the familiar].

    ⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables (these comparisons), He left there.

    ⁵⁴And coming to His own country [Nazareth], He taught in their synagogue so that they were amazed with bewildered wonder, and said, Where did this ^[u]Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

    ⁵⁵Is not this the carpenter's Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

    ⁵⁶And do not all His sisters live here among us? Where then did this Man get all this?

    ⁵⁷And they took offense at Him [they were repelled and hindered from acknowledging His authority, and caused to stumble]. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.

    ⁵⁸And He did not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief (their lack of faith ^[v]in the divine mission of Jesus).

   

Matthew 14

 ¹AT THAT time Herod the governor heard the reports about Jesus,

    ²And he said to his attendants, This is John the Baptist; He has been raised from the dead, and that is why the powers ^[w]of performing miracles are at work in Him.

    ³For Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison [to ^[x]stow him out of the way] on account and for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

    ⁴For John had said to him, It is not lawful or right for you to have her.^(E)

    ⁵Although he wished to have him put to death, he was afraid of the people, for they regarded John as a prophet.

    ⁶But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst [before the company] and pleased and fascinated Herod,

    ⁷And so he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

    ⁸And she, being put forward and prompted by her mother, said, Give me the head of John the Baptist right here on a ^[y]platter.

    ⁹And the king was distressed and sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests, he ordered it to be given her;

    ¹⁰He sent and had John beheaded in the prison.

    ¹¹And his head was brought in on a ^[z]platter and given ^[aa]to the little maid, and she brought it to her mother.

    ¹²And John's disciples came and took up the body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

    ¹³When Jesus heard it, He withdrew from there privately in a boat to a solitary place. But when the crowds heard of it, they followed Him [by land] on foot from the towns.

    ¹⁴When He went ashore and saw a great throng of people, He had compassion (pity and deep sympathy) for them and cured their sick.

    ¹⁵When evening came, the disciples came to Him and said, This is a remote and barren place, and the day is now over; send the throngs away into the villages to buy food for themselves.

    ¹⁶Jesus said, They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat.

    ¹⁷They said to Him, We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.

    ¹⁸He said, Bring them here to Me.

    ¹⁹Then He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass; and He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and blessed and broke the loaves and handed the pieces to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

    ²⁰And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve [^[ab]small hand] baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

    ²¹And those who ate were about 5,000 men, not including women and children.

    ²²Then He directed the disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent away the crowds.

    ²³And after He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone.

    ²⁴But the boat was by this time out on the sea, many furlongs [a furlong is one-eighth of a mile] distant from the land, beaten and tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them.

    ²⁵And in the fourth watch [between 3:00--6:00 a.m.] of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.

    ²⁶And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright.

    ²⁷But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I AM! Stop being afraid!^(F)

    ²⁸And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.

    ²⁹He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came toward Jesus.

    ³⁰But when he perceived and felt the strong wind, he was frightened, and as he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me [from death]!

    ³¹Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and caught and held him, saying to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

    ³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

    ³³And those in the boat knelt and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of God!

    ³⁴And when they had crossed over to the other side, they went ashore at Gennesaret.

    ³⁵And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent around into all the surrounding country and brought to Him all who were sick

    ³⁶And begged Him to let them merely touch the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were perfectly restored.^(G)