Matthew 13-14 (Contemporary English Version)

Matthew 13

A Story about a Farmer

(Mark 4.1-9; Luke 8.4-8)

 ¹That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach. ^{[a] 2}Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore. ³Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said: A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. ⁴While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. ⁵Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn't very deep. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. ⁷Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. ⁸But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered. ⁹If you have ears, pay attention!

   

Why Jesus Used Stories

(Mark 4.10-12; Luke 8.9,10)

 ¹⁰Jesus' disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you use nothing but stories when you speak to the people?"

    ¹¹Jesus answered:

   I have explained the secrets about the kingdom of heaven to you, but not to others. ¹²Everyone who has something will be given more. But people who don't have anything will lose even what little they have. ¹³I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand. ¹⁴So God's promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,

   "These people will listen

   and listen,

   but never understand.

   They will look and look,

   but never see.

    ¹⁵All of them have

   stubborn minds!

   Their ears are stopped up,

   and their eyes are covered.

   They cannot see or hear

   or understand.

   If they could,

   they would turn to me,

   and I would heal them."

    ¹⁶But God has blessed you, because your eyes can see and your ears can hear! ¹⁷Many prophets and good people were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.

   

Jesus Explains the Story about the Farmer

(Mark 4.13-20; Luke 8.11-15)

 ¹⁸Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:

    ¹⁹The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. ²⁰The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. ²¹But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

    ²²The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. ²³The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.

   

Weeds among the Wheat

 ²⁴Jesus then told them this story:

   The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered good seed in a field. ²⁵But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds in the field and then left.

    ²⁶When the plants came up and began to ripen, the farmer's servants could see the weeds. ²⁷The servants came and asked, "Sir, didn't you scatter good seed in your field? Where did these weeds come from?"

    ²⁸"An enemy did this," he replied.

   His servants then asked, "Do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?"

    ²⁹"No!" he answered. "You might also pull up the wheat. ³⁰Leave the weeds alone until harvest time. Then I'll tell my workers to gather the weeds and tie them up and burn them. But I'll have them store the wheat in my barn."

   

Stories about a Mustard Seed and Yeast

(Mark 4.30-32; Luke 13.18-21)

 ³¹Jesus told them another story:

   The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a farmer plants a mustard seed in a field. ³²Although it is the smallest of all seeds, it grows larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree. Birds even come and nest on its branches.

    ³³Jesus also said:

   The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a woman mixes a little yeast into three big batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.

   

The Reason for Teaching with Stories

(Mark 4.33,34)

 ³⁴Jesus used stories when he spoke to the people. In fact, he did not tell them anything without using stories. ³⁵So God's promise came true, just as the prophet ^[b] had said, "I will use stories

   to speak my message

   and to explain things

   that have been hidden

   since the creation

   of the world."

   

Jesus Explains the Story about the Weeds

 ³⁶After Jesus left the crowd and went inside, ^[c] his disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the story about the weeds in the wheat field." ³⁷Jesus answered:

   The one who scattered the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world, and the good seeds are the people who belong to the kingdom. The weed seeds are those who belong to the evil one, ³⁹and the one who scattered them is the devil. The harvest is the end of time, and angels are the ones who bring in the harvest.

    ⁴⁰Weeds are gathered and burned. That's how it will be at the end of time. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everyone who does wrong or causes others to sin. ⁴²Then he will throw them into a flaming furnace, where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain. ⁴³But everyone who has done right will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. If you have ears, pay attention!

   

A Hidden Treasure

 ⁴⁴The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. A person like that is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.

   

A Valuable Pearl

 ⁴⁵The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.

   

A Fish Net

 ⁴⁷The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a net is thrown into a lake and catches all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸When the net is full, it is dragged to the shore, and the fishermen sit down to separate the fish. They keep the good ones, but throw the bad ones away. ⁴⁹That's how it will be at the end of time. Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right. ⁵⁰Then those evil people will be thrown into a flaming furnace, where they will cry and grit their teeth in pain.

   

New and Old Treasures

 ⁵¹Jesus asked his disciples if they understood all these things. They said, "Yes, we do."

    ⁵²So he told them, "Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom."

   

The People of Nazareth Turn against Jesus

(Mark 6.1-6; Luke 4.16-30)

 ⁵³When Jesus had finished telling these stories, he left ⁵⁴and went to his hometown. He taught in their meeting place, and the people were so amazed that they asked, "Where does he get all this wisdom and the power to work these miracles? ⁵⁵Isn't he the son of the carpenter? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? ⁵⁶Don't his sisters still live here in our town? How can he do all this?" ⁵⁷So the people were very unhappy because of what he was doing.

   But Jesus said, "Prophets are honored by everyone, except the people of their hometown and their own family." ⁵⁸And because the people did not have any faith, Jesus did not work many miracles there.

   

Matthew 14

The Death of John the Baptist

(Mark 6.14-29; Luke 9.7-9)

 ¹About this time Herod the ruler ^[d] heard the news about Jesus ²and told his officials, "This is John the Baptist! He has come back from death, and that's why he has the power to work these miracles." ^3-4Herod had earlier arrested John and had him chained and put in prison. He did this because John had told him, "It isn't right for you to take Herodias, the wife of your brother Philip." ⁵Herod wanted to kill John. But the people thought John was a prophet, and Herod was afraid of what they might do.

    ⁶When Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests. She pleased Herod ⁷so much that he swore to give her whatever she wanted. ⁸But the girl's mother told her to say, "Here on a platter I want the head of John the Baptist!"

    ⁹The king was sorry for what he had said. But he did not want to break the promise he had made in front of his guests. So he ordered a guard ¹⁰to go to the prison and cut off John's head. ¹¹It was taken on a platter to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ¹²John's followers took his body and buried it. Then they told Jesus what had happened.

   

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

(Mark 6.30-44; Luke 9.10-17; John 6.1-14)

 ¹³After Jesus heard about John, he crossed Lake Galilee ^[e] to go to some place where he could be alone. But the crowds found out and followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw the large crowd. He felt sorry for them and healed everyone who was sick. ¹⁵That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, "This place is like a desert, and it is already late. Let the crowds leave, so they can go to the villages and buy some food."

    ¹⁶Jesus replied, "They don't have to leave. Why don't you give them something to eat?"

    ¹⁷But they said, "We have only five small loaves of bread ^[f] and two fish." ¹⁸Jesus asked his disciples to bring the food to him, ¹⁹and he told the crowd to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and handed it to his disciples, and they gave it to the people. ²⁰After everyone had eaten all they wanted, Jesus' disciples picked up twelve large baskets of leftovers.

    ²¹There were about five thousand men who ate, not counting the women and children.

   

Jesus Walks on the Water

(Mark 6.45-52; John 6.15-21)

 ²²Right away, Jesus made his disciples get into a boat and start back across the lake. ^[g] But he stayed until he had sent the crowds away. ²³Then he went up on a mountain where he could be alone and pray. Later that evening, he was still there. ²⁴By this time the boat was a long way from the shore. It was going against the wind and was being tossed around by the waves. ²⁵A little while before morning, Jesus came walking on the water toward his disciples. ²⁶When they saw him, they thought he was a ghost. They were terrified and started screaming.

    ²⁷At once, Jesus said to them, "Don't worry! I am Jesus. Don't be afraid."

    ²⁸Peter replied, "Lord, if it is really you, tell me to come to you on the water."

    ²⁹"Come on!" Jesus said. Peter then got out of the boat and started walking on the water toward him.

    ³⁰But when Peter saw how strong the wind was, he was afraid and started sinking. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted.

    ³¹Right away, Jesus reached out his hand. He helped Peter up and said, "You surely don't have much faith. Why do you doubt?"

    ³²When Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the wind died down. ³³The men in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, "You really are the Son of God!"

   

Jesus Heals Sick People in Gennesaret

(Mark 6.53-56)

 ³⁴Jesus and his disciples crossed the lake and came to shore near the town of Gennesaret. ³⁵The people found out that he was there, and they sent word to everyone who lived in that part of the country. So they brought all the sick people to Jesus. ³⁶They begged him just to let them touch his clothes, and everyone who did was healed.