Matthew 13
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Parable of the Sower
13 On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.(A) 2 Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.(B)
3 Then He told them many things in parables,(C) saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow. 4 As he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on rocky ground, where there wasn’t much soil, and they sprang up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. 6 But when the sun came up they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered. 7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them. 8 Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop: some 100, some 60, and some 30 times what was sown.(D) 9 Anyone who has ears[a] should listen!”(E)
Why Jesus Used Parables
10 Then the disciples(F) came up and asked Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”(G)
11 He answered them, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know,(H) but it has not been given to them. 12 For whoever has, more will be given to him, and he will have more than enough. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.(I) 13 For this reason I speak to them in parables, because looking they do not see,(J) and hearing they do not listen or understand.(K) 14 Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You will listen and listen,
yet never understand;
and you will look and look,
yet never perceive.(L)
15 For this people’s heart has grown callous;
their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn back—
and I would cure them.(M)[b]
16 “But your eyes are blessed(N) because they do see, and your ears because they do hear!(O) 17 For I assure you: Many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see yet didn’t see them; to hear the things you hear yet didn’t hear them.(P)
The Parable of the Sower Explained
18 “You, then, listen to the parable of the sower:(Q) 19 When anyone hears the word[c] about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.(R) 20 And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.(S) 21 Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution(T) comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now the one sown among the thorns—this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age(U) and the seduction[d] of wealth(V) choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown.”
The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds
24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.(W) 25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds[e] among the wheat, and left. 26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. 27 The landowner’s slaves(X) came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this!’ he told them.
“‘So, do you want us to go and gather them up?’ the slaves asked him.
29 “‘No,’ he said. ‘When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn.’”
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Yeast
31 He(Y) presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven(Z) is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”(AA)
33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds[f] of flour until it spread through all of it.”[g](AB)
Using Parables Fulfills Prophecy
34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and He would not speak anything to them without a parable,(AC) 35 so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:
I will open My mouth in parables;
I will declare things kept secret
from the foundation of the world.(AD)[h]
Jesus Interprets the Wheat and the Weeds
36 Then He dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached Him and said, “Explain the parable of the weeds in the field to us.”(AE)
37 He replied: “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,(AF) 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.(AG) 40 Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.(AH) 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin[i] and those guilty of lawlessness.[j](AI) 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace(AJ) where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.(AK) 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears[k] should listen!(AL)
The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and of the Priceless Pearl
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.(AM)
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 46 When he found one priceless[l] pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it.(AN)
The Parable of the Net
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish,(AO) 48 and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous,(AP) 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.(AQ)
The Storehouse of Truth
51 “Have you understood all these things?”[m]
“Yes,” they told Him.
52 “Therefore,” He said to them, “every student of Scripture[n] instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who brings out of his storeroom what is new and what is old.”(AR) 53 When Jesus had finished these parables, He left there.
Rejection at Nazareth
54 He went to His hometown(AS) and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “How did this wisdom and these miracles come to Him?(AT) 55 Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?(AU) Isn’t His mother called Mary, and His brothers James,(AV) Joseph,[o] Simon, and Judas?(AW) 56 And His sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does He get all these things?” 57 And they were offended by Him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.”(AX) 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
Footnotes
- Matthew 13:9 Other mss add to hear
- Matthew 13:15 Is 6:9-10
- Matthew 13:19 Gk logos = word, or message, or saying, or thing
- Matthew 13:22 Or pleasure, or deceitfulness
- Matthew 13:25 Or darnel, a weed similar in appearance to wheat in the early stages
- Matthew 13:33 Lit 3 sata; about 40 quarts
- Matthew 13:33 Or until all of it was leavened
- Matthew 13:35 Ps 78:2
- Matthew 13:41 Or stumbling
- Matthew 13:41 Or those who do lawlessness
- Matthew 13:43 Other mss add to hear
- Matthew 13:46 Or very precious
- Matthew 13:51 Other mss add Jesus asked them
- Matthew 13:52 Or every scribe
- Matthew 13:55 Other mss read Joses; Mk 6:3
Mattityahu 13
Orthodox Jewish Bible
13 On that day, having gone out of the bais, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach sat beside the lake.
2 And many multitudes gathered together to him so that he got into a sirah (boat) to sit down, and the entire multitude stood along the shore.
3 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach told them many things in meshalim (parables), saying Hinei! The Sower went out to sow [seeds].
4 And while he sowed, on the one hand, this [seed] fell along the road, and the birds having come, devoured them.
5 And others fell upon the rocky places, where there is not much soil, and immediately it sprouts on account of the lack of the soil’s depth.
6 And when the shemesh (sun) arose, the zera (seed) was scorched, and because it did not have a root, it withered.
7 And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
8 But others fell on the adamah tovah (good ground), and they yielded fruit: the one, one hundred, the other, sixty, the other, thirty.
9 The one having oznayim (spiritual ears), let him hear!
10 And, approaching, the talmidim said to Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, Why in meshalim (parables) are you speaking to them?
11 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach answered them, Because to you it has been granted to have daas of the razim (mysteries) of the Malchut HaShomayim, but to those it has not been granted.
12 For whoever has, [more] will be given to him, and he will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him (see Mt 25:14-29).
13 For this reason in meshalim I am speaking to them, for while seeing they do not see, and [while] hearing they do not hear, nor do they have binah (understanding).
14 And in them is fulfilled the nevuah (prophecy) of Yeshayah HaNavi, saying, SHIMU SHAMOA VAL TAVINU UREU RAO VAL TEIDAU (In hearing you will hear and by no means understand, and seeing you will see and by no means perceive).
15 HASHMEIN LEV HAAM HAZEH VAZNAV HACHBEID VEINAV HASHA, PEN YIREH VEINAV UVEAZNAV YISHMAH ULEVAVO YAVIN, VSHAV NRAFAH LOH. (For the heart of this people has been made dull, and with [their] ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes are shut, lest they see with the their eyes and with [their] ears they hear, and with the lev (heart) they understand and they turn and I will give them refuah [healing] YESHAYAH 6:9-10).
16 But ashrey are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17 For truly I say to you that many Neviim and tzaddikim desired to see what you see, and they did not see [it], and to hear what you hear, and they did not hear it.
18 You, therefore, listen to the mashal of the sower.
19 When anyone hears the Dvar HaMalchut and does not have binah, HaRah (the Evil one) comes and seizes that which was sown in his lev (heart). This is the zera (seed) sown along the path.
20 And the zera sown upon the rocky places is the person listening to the Dvar Hashem and immediately with simcha receives it.
21 Yet he has no root in himself but is short-lived, and when ES TZARAH comes or persecution on account of the Dvar Hashem, immediately he ceases being a maamin Meshichi (Messianic believer) and becomes meshummad (apostate), falling away and giving up the [true Orthodox Jewish] faith. [YIRMEYAH 30:7]
22 And the [zera] sown among the thorns is the one hearing the dvar (word), and the rogez HaOlam Hazeh (the anxiety of this age, DEVARIM 28:65) and the mirmah (deceit) of riches, choke the Dvar Hashem and it becomes unfruitful. [YESHAYAH 53:9]
23 And the zera sown upon the adamah tovah (the good ground), this is the one who hears the Dvar Hashem and, understanding [it], indeed bears pri and, one produces a hundred, the other sixty, the other thirty.
24 Another mashal Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach placed before them, saying, The Malchut HaShomayim is like a man sowing zera tov (good seed) in his field.
25 But while men slept, his oyev (enemy) came and oversowed weeds in between the wheat and went away.
26 But when the wheat sprouted and produced pri, then the weeds also appeared.
27 So the servants of the Baal Bayit said to him, Adoneinu, did you not sow zera tov (good seed) in your field? How then does it have weeds?
28 And he said to them, An oyev did this. So the servants say to him, Do you want us to go and pull them all?
29 But he says, No, lest gathering the weeds you should uproot the wheat together with them.
30 Permit both to grow together until the Katzir (harvest); and in time of the Katzir, I will say to the kotzerim, Collect first the weeds, and bind them into bundles to burn them. But the wheat gather into my storehouse.
31 Another mashal Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach placed before them, saying, The Malchut HaShomayim is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.
32 This that is indeed less than all the zeraim (seeds), but when it grows, it is larger than the garden vegetables and it becomes an etz (tree), so that the OPH HASHOMAYIM IYOV 35:11) come and dwell in its branches.
33 Another mashal Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach spoke to them. The Malchut HaShomayim is like seor (leaven), which having taken, a woman hid in three satas of wheat flour until the whole was leavened.
34 All these things Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach spoke in meshalim to the multitudes. And apart from meshalim Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach did not speak to them:
35 So that might be fulfilled what was spoken through the Navi, saying, EFTCHA VMASHAL PI AVIAH CHIDOT (I will open my mouth with parables, I will utter things having been hidden) from the foundation of the world. [TEHILLIM 78:2]
36 Then having sent away the multitudes, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach came into the bais (house). And Moshiach’s talmidim approached him, saying, Explain to us the mashal of the weeds of the field.
37 And answering, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said, The Sower of the zera tov is the Ben HaAdam (Moshiach).
38 The field is HaOlam Hazeh. And the zera tov, the good seed, these are the Bnei HaMalchut, and the weeds, these are the bnei HaRah (sons of the Evil one, BERESHIS 3:15).
39 And the Oyev (the Enemy) sowing them is Hasatan. And the Katzir (Harvest), this is HaKetz HaOlam (the end of the age). And the kotzerim (reapers, harvesters) are malachim (angels).
40 As the weeds are pulled up and gathered and are consumed with Eish (Fire), so also it will be at the Ketz HaOlam.
41 The Ben HaAdam [Moshiach] will send forth his malachim, and they will pull up and gather out of the Moshiach’s Malchut all the things making meshummad (apostate) and the ones who are without Torah and antinomian.
42 And Moshiach’s malachim will throw them into the furnace of Eish; there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
43 Then the tzaddikim will shine as the shemesh (sun) in the Malchut of their Father. The one having oznayim (spiritual ears), let him hear.
44 The Malchut HaShomayim is like otzar (treasure) hidden in the field, which, having found, a man hid. And from the simcha he experienced, he goes away and sells everything he has and buys that field.
45 Again, the Malchut HaShomayim is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.
46 And having found one precious peninah (pearl), he went away and liquidated everything he had and acquired it.
47 Again, the Malchut HaShomayim is like a reshet (net) having been cast into the lake, a reshet collecting and gathering dagim (fish) of all descriptions,
48 which, when this reshet (net) was filled, they hoisted it upon the shore, sat down, collected the tov (good) into a creel, and the rah (evil), they threw out.
49 Thus it will be at HaKetz HaOlam Hazeh (The End of This World). The malachim will go out and they will separate the reshaim from among the tzaddikim.
50 And they will throw the reshaim into the furnace of Eish. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 Did you have binah of all these things? They say to Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, Ken.
52 So Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to them, Therefore, every sofer (scribe, Torah teacher, rabbi) who becomes a talmid of the Malchut HaShomayim is like a man [who is] a Baal Bayit, who takes out of his otzar (treasure), chadashot (new things) and also yeshanot (old things).
53 And it came about when Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach finished these meshalim, that he went away from there.
54 And having come into Moshiach’s shtetl, he began ministering as a moreh (teacher) in their shul, so that they were amazed and said, From where did this chochmah come to this one, this chochmah and these moftim (miracles, wonders, omens)?
55 Is this not the ben hanaggar (the carpenter’s son)? Is not his Em called Miryam? And are not his achim Yaakov*, Yosef, Shimon and Yehuda**?
56 And are not his achayot (sisters) with us? From where, therefore, came to this one all these things?
57 And they were taking offense at Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach. But Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said to them, A Navi (prophet) is not without honor except in his hometown and in his bais.
58 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach did not accomplish in that place many moftim, because of their lack of emunah (faith) and bitachon (trust).
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