1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.^(A)

The Coming Judgment on Judah

The Great Day of the Lord

The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat

²⁴ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field,^{(A) 25} but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. ²⁷ And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ ²⁸ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”^(B)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³¹ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;^{(C) 32} it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”^(D)

The Parable of the Yeast

³³ He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with^[a] three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”^(E)

The Use of Parables

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

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

³⁶ Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” ³⁷ He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; ³⁸ the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,^{(H) 39} and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.^{(I) 40} Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.^{(J) 41} The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin^[d] and all evildoers,^{(K) 42} and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^{(L) 43} Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears^[e] listen!^(M)

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

On Divisions in the Corinthian Church

3 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people but rather as fleshly, as infants in Christ.^{(A) 2} I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,^{(B) 3} for you are still fleshly. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling^[a] among you, are you not fleshly and behaving according to human inclinations?^{(C) 4} For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not all too human?^(D)

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor.^{(E) 9} For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.^(F)

¹⁰ According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Let each builder choose with care how to build on it.^{(G) 11} For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.^{(H) 12} Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³ the work of each builder will become visible, for the day^[b] will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.^{(I) 14} If the work that someone has built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a wage. ¹⁵ If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?^{[c](J) 17} If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

¹⁸ Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise.^{(K) 19} For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

²⁰ and again,

²¹ So let no one boast about people.^[d] For all things are yours,^{(M) 22} whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³ and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.^(N)