and he spake to them many things in similes, saying: `Lo, the sower went forth to sow,

And the disciples having come near, said to him, `Wherefore in similes dost thou speak to them?'

`Because of this, in similes do I speak to them, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor understand,

`Ye, therefore, hear ye the simile of the sower:

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

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,

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.'

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

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.'

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.'

And it came to pass, when Jesus finished these similes, he removed thence,

And Peter answering said to him, `Explain to us this simile.'

`Hear ye another simile: There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and did put a hedge round it, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and gave it out to husbandmen, and went abroad.

And the chief priests and the Pharisees having heard his similes, knew that of them he speaketh,

And Jesus answering, again spake to them in similes, saying,

`And from the fig-tree learn ye the simile: When already its branch may have become tender, and the leaves it may put forth, ye know that summer [is] nigh,