The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And ^[a]Jesus answered and said to them, “^(A)To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ^12 (B)For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while ^(C)seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

^16 (F)But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I say to you that ^(G)many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹⁸ “^(H)Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears ^(I)the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, ^(J)the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. ²⁰ And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he ^[e](K)falls away. ²² And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of ^(L)the ^[f]world and the ^(M)deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²³ And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some ^(N)a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

The Parable of Tares Among Wheat

²⁴ He presented another parable to them, saying, “^(O)The kingdom of heaven ^[g]may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed ^[h]tares among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ But when the ^[i]wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. ²⁷ The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? ^[j]How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ And he said to them, ‘An ^[k]enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but ^(P)gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven

³¹ He presented another parable to them, saying, “^(Q)The kingdom of heaven is like ^(R)a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; ³² and this is the ^[l]smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the ^[m]largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that ^(S)the birds of the ^[n]air come and nest in its branches.”

³³ He spoke another parable to them, “^(T)The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in ^[o](U)three sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

³⁴ All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He was not speaking to them ^(V)without a parable ³⁵ so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,

The Parable of Tares Explained

³⁶ Then He left the crowds and went into ^(X)the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “^(Y)Explain to us the parable of the ^[p]tares of the field.” ³⁷ And He answered and said, “The one who sows the good seed is ^(Z)the Son of Man, ³⁸ and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are ^(AA)the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are ^(AB)the sons of ^(AC)the evil one; ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is ^(AD)the ^[q]end of the age; and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at ^(AE)the ^[r]end of the age. ^41 (AF)The Son of Man ^(AG)will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom ^[s]all ^(AH)stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, ⁴² and ^(AI)will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place ^(AJ)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ^43 (AK)Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. ^(AL)He who has ears, ^[t]let him hear.

A Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴ “^(AM)The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and ^(AN)sells all that he has and buys that field.

A Costly Pearl

⁴⁵ “Again, ^(AO)the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, ⁴⁶ and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

A Dragnet

⁴⁷ “Again, ^(AP)the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; ⁴⁸ and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹ So it will be at ^(AQ)the ^[u]end of the age; the angels will come forth and ^[v]take out the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰ and ^(AR)will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place ^(AS)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.” ⁵² And He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

^53 [w](AT)Now it happened that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. ^54 (AU)And He came to ^[x]His hometown and ^(AV)began teaching them in their synagogue, so that ^(AW)they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these ^[y]miraculous powers? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not ^(AX)His mother called Mary, and His ^(AY)brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And ^(AZ)His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they were taking ^(BA)offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “^(BB)A prophet is not without honor except in his ^[z]hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And He did not do many ^[aa]miracles there because of their unbelief.

² And He was teaching them many things in ^(A)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and it happened that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no ^[a]crop. ⁸ And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a ^[b]crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(B)He who has ears to hear, ^[c]let him hear.”

¹⁰ And when He was alone, ^[d]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to ^(C)those who are outside, everything comes ^(D)in parables, ¹² so that ^(E)while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven.”

The Parable of the Sower Explained

^13 (F)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately ^(G)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky places: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they ^[e]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(H)the ^[f]world, and the ^(I)deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and ^(J)are bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(K)Is a lamp brought to be put under a ^[g]basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (L)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (M)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Beware what you listen to. ^[h](N)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. ^25 (O)For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

The Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ^[i]is ripe, he immediately ^[j](P)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (Q)And He was saying, “How shall we ^(R)compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is ^[k]smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes ^[l]largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that ^(S)the birds of the ^[m]air can nest under its shade.”

³³ And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it; ³⁴ and He was not speaking to them ^(T)without a parable; but He was ^(U)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Calms a Storm

^35 (V)And on that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” ^36 [n]And leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^(W)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm *arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. ³⁸ And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they *got Him up and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He woke up and ^(X)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and ^[o]it became ^[p]perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? ^(Y)Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ And they became ^[q]very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”