13 That same day, Yeshua went out of the house and sat down by the lake; ² but such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there while the crowd stood on the shore. ³ He told them many things in parables:

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; ⁶ but when the sun had risen, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ But others fell into rich soil and produced grain, a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as had been sown. ⁹ Those who have ears, let them hear!”

¹⁰ Then the talmidim came and asked Yeshua, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?” ¹¹ He answered, “Because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to them. ¹² For anyone who has something will be given more, so that he will have plenty; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away. ¹³ Here is why I speak to them in parables: they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. ¹⁴ That is, in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Yesha‘yahu which says,

¹⁶ But you, how blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear! ¹⁷ Yes indeed! I tell you that many a prophet and many a tzaddik longed to see the things you are seeing but did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing but did not hear them.

¹⁸ “So listen to what the parable of the sower means. ¹⁹ Whoever hears the message about the Kingdom, but doesn’t understand it, is like the seed sown along the path — the Evil One comes and seizes what was sown in his heart. ²⁰ The seed sown on rocky ground is like a person who hears the message and accepts it with joy at once, ²¹ but has no root in himself. So he stays on for a while; but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, he immediately falls away. ²² Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone who hears the message, but it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitful glamor of wealth, so that it produces nothing. ²³ However, what was sown on rich soil is the one who hears the message and understands it; such a person will surely bear fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

21 Then Yeshua looked up, and as he watched the rich placing their gifts into the Temple offering-boxes, ² he also saw a poor widow put in two small coins. ³ He said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴ For they, out of their wealth, have contributed money they could easily spare; but she, out of her poverty, has given all she had to live on.”

¹⁷ After three days Sha’ul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they had gathered, he said to them: “Brothers, although I have done nothing against either our people or the traditions of our fathers, I was made a prisoner in Yerushalayim and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ They examined me and were ready to release me, because I had done nothing to justify a death sentence. ¹⁹ But when the Judeans objected, I was forced to appeal to the Emperor — not that I had any charge to make against my own people. ²⁰ This is why I have asked to see you and speak with you, for it is because of the hope of Isra’el that I have this chain around me.”

²¹ They said to him, “We have not received any letters about you from Y’hudah, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. ²² But we do think it would be appropriate to hear your views from you, yourself; for all we know about this sect is that people everywhere speak against it.”

²³ So they arranged a day with him and came to his quarters in large numbers. From morning until evening he explained the matter to them, giving a thorough witness about the Kingdom of God and making use of both the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yeshua. ²⁴ Some were convinced by what he said, ²⁵ while others refused to believe.

So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Sha’ul had made one final statement: “The Ruach HaKodesh spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha‘yahu the prophet,

²⁸ Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Goyim, and they will listen!” ^29 [b]

³⁰ Sha’ul remained two whole years in a place he rented for himself; and he continued receiving all who came to see him, ³¹ openly and without hindrance proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra’el, from the seed of Avraham,^[a] of the tribe of Binyamin. ² God has not repudiated his people,^[b] whom he chose in advance. Or don’t you know what the Tanakh says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra’el, ³ “Adonai, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I’m the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!”^{[c] 4} But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba‘al.”^{[d] 5} It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶ (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.) ⁷ What follows is that Isra’el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike, ⁸ just as the Tanakh says,

⁹ And David says,

¹¹ “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.^{[g] 12} Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world — that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter — how much greater riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them!

¹³ However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work ¹⁴ in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! ¹⁵ For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!