Matthew 13:13-21

New King James Version

¹³Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

^(A)‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not ^(B)perceive;
¹⁵For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears ^(C)are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have ^(D)closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I ^[a]should ^(E)heal them.’

¹⁶But ^(F)blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷for assuredly, I say to you ^(G)that 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^(H)

¹⁸^(I)“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: ¹⁹When anyone hears the word ^(J)of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. ²⁰But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately ^(K)receives it with joy; ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when ^(L)tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately ^(M)he stumbles.