And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?

The Parable of the Sower

Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

The Purpose of the Parables

And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables,

And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

The Parable of the Seed Growing

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

The Parable of the Tenants

And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country.

And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.