Chronological
The parable of the sower
13 That very day Jesus went out of the house and sat down beside the sea. 2 Large crowds gathered around him, so he got into a boat and sat down. The whole crowd was standing on the shore.
3 He had much to say to them, and he said it all in parables.
“Listen!” he said. “Once there was a sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some seed fell on rocky soil, where it didn’t have much earth. It sprang up at once because it had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun was high it got scorched, and it withered because it didn’t have any root. 7 Other seed fell in among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. 8 Other seed fell into good soil, and produced a crop, some a hundred times over, some sixty, and some thirty times over. 9 If you’ve got ears, then listen!”
The reason for parables
10 His disciples came to him.
“Why are you speaking to them in parables?” they asked.
11 “You’ve been given the gift of knowing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,” he replied, “but they haven’t been given it. 12 Anyone who already has something will be given more, and they will have plenty. But anyone who has nothing—even what they have will be taken away! 13 That’s why I speak to them in parables, so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand or take it in. 14 Isaiah’s prophecy is coming true in them:
You will listen and listen but won’t understand,
you will look and look but not see.
15 This people’s heart has gone flabby and fat,
their ears are muffled and dull,
their eyes are darkened and shut;
so that they won’t see with their eyes
or hear with their ears, or know in their heart,
or turn back again for me to restore them.
16 “But there’s great news for your eyes: they can see! And for your ears: they can hear! 17 I’m telling you the truth: many prophets and holy people longed to see what you see and didn’t see it, and to hear what you hear and didn’t hear it.”
The parable of the sower explained
18 “All right, then,” Jesus continued, “this is what the sower story is all about. 19 When someone hears the word of the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This corresponds to what was sown beside the path. 20 What was sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with delight, 21 but doesn’t have any root of their own. Someone like that only lasts a short time; as soon as there’s any trouble or persecution because of the word, they trip up at once. 22 The one sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but the world’s worries and the seduction of wealth choke the word and it doesn’t bear fruit. 23 But the one sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. Someone like that will bear fruit: one will produce a hundred times over, another sixty, and another thirty times over.”
The parable of the weeds
24 He put another parable to them.
“The kingdom of heaven,” he said, “is like this! Once upon a time a man sowed good seed in his field. 25 While the workers were asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds in among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the crop came up and produced wheat, then the weeds appeared as well.
27 “So the farmer’s servants came to him.
“ ‘Master,’ they said, ‘didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’
28 “ ‘This is the work of an enemy,’ he replied.
“ ‘So,’ the servants said to him, ‘do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘If you do that you’ll probably pull up the wheat as well, while you’re collecting the weeds. 30 Let them both grow together until the harvest. Then, when it’s time for harvest, I will give the reapers this instruction: First gather the weeds and tie them up in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”
31 He put another parable to them.
“The kingdom of heaven,” he said, “is like a grain of mustard seed, which someone took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when it grows it turns into the biggest of the shrubs. It becomes a tree, and the birds in the sky can then come and nest in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable.
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven,” he said, “which a woman took and hid inside three measures of flour, until the whole thing was leavened.”
34 Jesus said all these things to the crowds in parables. He didn’t speak to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will tell the things that were hidden
since the very foundation of the world.
The parable of the weeds explained
36 Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came and joined him.
“Explain to us,” they said, “the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 “The one who sows the good seed,” said Jesus, “is the son of man. 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one; 39 the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40 “So: when the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, that’s what it will be like at the close of the age. 41 The son of man will send out his angels, and they will collect together out of his kingdom everything that causes offense, and everyone who acts wickedly. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. If you have ears, then hear!”
Other parables
44 “The kingdom of heaven,” Jesus continued, “is like treasure hidden in a field. Someone found it and hid it, and in great delight went off and sold everything he possessed, and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who was looking for fine pearls, 46 and who found one that was spectacularly valuable. He went off and sold everything he possessed, and bought it.
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea, and collected every type of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen brought it to shore. They sat down and selected the good ones, which they put into a bucket; but they threw out the bad ones. 49 That’s what it will be like at the close of the age. The angels will go off and separate the wicked from the righteous, 50 and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all this?” asked Jesus.
“Yes,” they answered.
52 “Well, then,” he said to them, “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his storeroom some new things and some old things.”
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there.
Opposition in Nazareth
54 Jesus came to the town where he had been brought up. He taught them in their synagogue, and they were astonished.
“Where did this fellow get this wisdom, and these powers?” they said.
55 “Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judah? 56 And aren’t all his sisters here with us? So where does he get it all from?” 57 They were offended by him.
So Jesus said to them, “No prophet lacks respect—except in his own town and his own house!”
58 And he didn’t perform many mighty works there, because they didn’t believe.
The parable of the sower
8 Soon afterwards, Jesus went about in person, with the Twelve, through the towns and villages, announcing and proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. 2 They were accompanied by various women who had been healed from evil spirits and diseases: Mary who was called “Magdalene,” from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 Joanna the wife of Chouza (Herod’s steward), and Susanna, and many others. They looked after the needs of Jesus and his companions out of their own pockets.
4 A large crowd came together, and people came to him from town after town. He spoke to them in parables: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some fell by the road, and was trodden on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Other seed fell on stony ground, and when it came up it withered, because it didn’t have any moisture. 7 Other seed fell in among thorns, and when the thorns grew up they choked it. 8 Other seed again fell into good soil, and came up, and gave a yield of a hundredfold.”
As he said this, he called out: “If you’ve got ears to hear, then hear!”
9 His disciples asked him what this parable was about.
10 “You are being let in on the secrets of God’s kingdom,” he said, “but to the rest it happens in parables, so that ‘they may see but not perceive, and hear but not understand.’
11 “This is the parable: the seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the roadside are people who hear, but then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they won’t believe it and be saved. 13 Those on the stony ground are those who hear the word and receive it with delight—but they don’t have any root, and so they believe only for a time, and then, when a time of testing comes, they draw back. 14 The seed that falls in among thorns represents people who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and they don’t bear proper, ripening fruit. 15 But those in the good soil are the ones who hear the word and hold on to it with an upright and good heart, and who patiently produce fruit.”
Jesus calms the storm
16 “Nobody lights a lamp,” continued Jesus, “and then hides it under a pot or a bed. They put it on a lampstand, so that people who come in can see the light. 17 You see, nothing is hidden which won’t become visible. Nothing is concealed that won’t come to light.
18 “So be careful how you listen. If you’ve got something, more will be given to you; if you haven’t, even what you imagine you have will be taken away from you.”
19 His mother and brothers came to him, and couldn’t get near him because of the crowd. 20 So they sent a message to him: “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”
21 “Mother and brothers, indeed?” replied Jesus. “Here are my mother and brothers—people who hear God’s word and do it!”
22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and suggested that they cross to the other shore. So they set off. 23 As they were sailing, he fell asleep. A violent wind swept down on the lake, and the boat began to fill dangerously with water.
24 “Master, Master!” shouted the disciples, coming and waking him up. “Master, we’re lost!”
He got up and scolded the wind and the waves. They stopped, and there was a flat calm.
25 “Where’s your faith?” he asked them.
They were afraid and astonished. “Who is this, then,” they asked one another, “if he can give orders to wind and water, and they do what he says?”
The healing of the demoniac
26 They sailed to the land of the Gerasenes, which is on the other side from Galilee. 27 As he got out on land, a demon-possessed man from the town met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he didn’t live in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus he screamed and fell down in front of him.
“You and me, Jesus—you and me!” he yelled at the top of his voice. “What is it with you and me, you son of the Most High God? Don’t torture me—please, please don’t torment me!” 29 Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. Many times over it had seized him, and he was kept under guard with chains and manacles; but he used to break the shackles, and the demon would drive him into the desert.
30 “What’s your name?” Jesus asked him.
“Regiment!” replied the man—for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to order them to be sent into the pit.
32 A sizable herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside, and the demons begged him to allow them to go into them. He gave them permission. 33 The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and was drowned.
34 The herdsmen saw what had happened. They took to their heels and spread the news in town and country, 35 and people came out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting there at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind. They were afraid. 36 People who had seen how the demoniac had been healed explained it to them. 37 The whole crowd, from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes, asked him to go away from them, because great terror had seized them. So he got into the boat and returned.
38 The man who had been demon-possessed begged Jesus to let him stay with him. But he sent him away. 39 “Go back to your home,” he said, “and tell them what God has done for you.” And he went off round every town, declaring what Jesus had done for him.
Jairus’s daughter and the woman with chronic bleeding
40 Jesus returned. A large crowd was waiting for him, and welcomed him back. 41 A man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell down in front of his feet. He pleaded with him to come to his house, 42 because he had an only daughter, twelve years old, who was dying. So they set off, and the crowd pressed close in around him.
43 There was a woman who had had an internal hemorrhage for twelve years. She had spent all she had on doctors, but had not been able to find a cure from anyone. 44 She came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of his robe. Immediately her flow of blood dried up.
45 “Who touched me?” asked Jesus.
Everybody denied it. “Master,” said Peter, “the crowds are crushing you and pressing you!”
46 “Somebody touched me,” said Jesus. “Power went out from me, and I knew it.”
47 When the woman saw that she couldn’t remain hidden, she came up, trembling, and fell down in front of him. She told him, in front of everyone, why she had touched him, and how she had been healed instantly.
48 “Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
49 While he was still speaking, someone arrived from the synagogue-ruler’s house. “Your daughter’s dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher any longer.”
50 “Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus when he heard it. “Just believe, and she will be rescued.”
51 When they got to the house, he didn’t let anyone come in with them except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. 52 Everyone was weeping and wailing for her.
“Don’t cry,” said Jesus. “She isn’t dead; she’s asleep.” 53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.
54 But he took her by the hand. “Get up, child,” he called. 55 Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. He told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astounded, but he told them to tell nobody what had happened.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.