²⁴ Another simile he set before them, saying: `The reign of the heavens was likened to a man sowing good seed in his field,

²⁵ and, while men are sleeping, his enemy came and sowed darnel in the midst of the wheat, and went away,

²⁶ and when the herb sprang up, and yielded fruit, then appeared also the darnel.

²⁷ `And the servants of the householder, having come near, said to him, Sir, good seed didst thou not sow in thy field? whence then hath it the darnel?

²⁸ And he saith to them, A man, an enemy, did this; and the servants said to him, Wilt thou, then, [that] having gone away we may gather it up?

²⁹ `And he said, No, lest -- gathering up the darnel -- ye root up with it the wheat,

³⁰ suffer both to grow together till the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the darnel, and bind it in bundles, to burn it, and the wheat gather up into my storehouse.'

³¹ Another simile he set before them, saying: `The reign of the heavens is like to a grain of mustard, which a man having taken, did sow in his field,

³² which less, indeed, is than all the seeds, but when it may be grown, is greatest of the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven do come and rest in its branches.'

³³ Another simile spake he to them: `The reign of the heavens is like to leaven, which a woman having taken, hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.'

³⁴ All these things spake Jesus in similes to the multitudes, and without a simile he was not speaking to them,

³⁵ that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through the prophet, saying, `I will open in similes my mouth, I will utter things having been hidden from the foundation of the world.'

³⁶ Then having let away the multitudes, Jesus came to the house, and his disciples came near to him, saying, `Explain to us the simile of the darnel of the field.'

³⁷ And he answering said to them, `He who is sowing the good seed is the Son of Man,

³⁸ and the field is the world, and the good seed, these are the sons of the reign, and the darnel are the sons of the evil one,

³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is a full end of the age, and the reapers are messengers.

⁴⁰ `As, then, the darnel is gathered up, and is burned with fire, so shall it be in the full end of this age,

⁴¹ the Son of Man shall send forth his messengers, and they shall gather up out of his kingdom all the stumbling-blocks, and those doing the unlawlessness,

⁴² and shall cast them to the furnace of the fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.

⁴³ `Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the reign of their Father. He who is having ears to hear -- let him hear.