¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret^[a] of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables,^(A)

¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.^(A)

³⁰ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

³⁴ he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.^(A)

¹⁶ speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist^[a] to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.

The Use of Parables

³⁴ Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing.^{(A) 35} This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:^[a]

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets^[a] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.^{(A) 12} For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.^{(B) 13} The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’^{(C) 14} With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: