Read the Gospels in 40 Days
13 The same day, Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.
2 And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He went into a ship and sat down. And the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, a sower went out to sow.
4 “And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside. And the birds came and devoured them.
5 “And some fell upon stony ground, where they did not have much earth. And soon they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.
6 “But when the Sun came up, they were burnt up; and for lack of rooting, withered away.
7 “And some fell among thorns. And the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8 But some fell in good ground, and brought forth fruit; one corn a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and another thirtyfold.
9 “The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 Then the disciples came, and said to Him, “Why did You speak to them in parables?”
11 And He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. But to them it is not given.
12 “For whoever has, to him shall be given. And he shall have abundance. But whoever does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away from him.
13 “Therefore, I speak to them in parables. Because they, seeing, do not see. And hearing, they do not hear, nor understand.
14 “So in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says, ‘By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing, you shall see and shall not perceive.
15 “‘For this people’s heart has grown fat and their ears barely hear and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should return, that I might heal them.’
16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.
17 “For truly I say to you that many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them.
18 “Therefore, hear the parable of the Sower.
19 “Whenever anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom, and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which was sown in his heart. And this is the one who has received the seed by the wayside.
20 “And the one who received seed in the stony ground, is he who hears the Word, and immediately, with joy, receives it,
21 “but he has no root in himself and endures but a season. For as soon as trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, he quickly stumbles.
22 “And the one who receives the seed among thorns, is he who hears the Word, but the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word. And it is made unfruitful.
23 “But the one who receives the seed in the good ground, is he who hears the Word and understands it, who also bears fruit and brings forth; some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.”
24 He put forth another parable to them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 “But while the man slept, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went his way.
26 “And when the blade had sprung up and brought forth fruit, the weeds also appeared.
27 “Then the servants of the landowner came, and said to him, ‘Master, did not you sow good seed in your field? From where have these weeds come?’
28 “And he said to them, ‘Some envious man has done this.’ Then the servants said to him, ‘Do you wish us to go and gather them up?’
29 “But he said, ‘No, lest while you are gathering the weeds you also pluck up the wheat with them.
30 “‘Let both grow together until the harvest. And at harvest time I will say to the reapers, “First, gather the weeds, and bind them in sheaves to burn them. But gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
31 He put forth another parable to them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man takes and sows in his field,
32 “which indeed is the least of all seeds. But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs. And it becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and build in its branches.”
33 He spoke another parable to them, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till all was leavened.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the multitude in parables. And He did not speak to them without parables.
35 So that which was spoken by the Prophet might be fulfilled, which says, “I will open my mouth in parables, and will utter the things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of that field.”
37 Then He answered, and said to them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 “And the field is the world. And the good seed are the children of the Kingdom. And the weeds are the children of the evil one.
39 “And the enemy who sows them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the world. And the reapers are the angels.
40 “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be at the end of this world.
41 “The Son of Man shall send forth His angels. And they shall gather all stumbling blocks out of His Kingdom, and those who do iniquity,
42 “and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 “Then shall the just shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.
44 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure, hidden in the field. Which, when a man has found, he hides it. And for joy thereof, departs and sells all that he has, and buys that field.
45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant man who seeks good pearls,
46 “Who, having found a pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a draw net, cast into the sea, which gathers of all kinds of things;
48 “which, when it is full, they draw to land, and sit and gather the good into vessels, and cast away the bad.
49 “So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go forth, and separate the bad from among the just;
50 “and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
51 Jesus said to them, “Do you understand all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
52 Then He said to them, “Therefore, every scribe who is taught about the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who brings forth, out of his treasure, things both new and old.”
53 And it happened that when Jesus had ended these parables, He departed from there,
54 and came into His own country, and taught them in their synagogue (so that they were astonished, and said, “From where does this wisdom and these great works come to this man?”
55 “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
56 “And are not his sisters all with us? From where, then, did he get all these things?”).
57 And they were offended by Him. Then Jesus said to them, “A Prophet is not without honor, except in His own country and in His own house.”
58 And He did not do many great works there, because of their unbelief.
14 At that time, Herod the Tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
2 and said to his servants, “This is that John Baptist! He has risen again from the dead! And therefore, great works are done by him!”
3 For Herod had taken John and bound him, and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
4 For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a Prophet.
6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
7 Therefore, he promised with an oath that he would give her whatever she would ask.
8 And she (having already been instructed by her mother) said, “Give me John Baptist’s head here, on a platter.”
9 And the king was sorry. Nevertheless, because of the oath, and those who sat with him at the table, he commanded it to be given to her;
10 and sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
11 And his head was brought, on a platter, and given to the maid. And she brought it to her mother.
12 And his disciples came and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
13 And when Jesus heard it, He departed from there by ship into a desert place, alone. And when the multitude had heard it, they followed Him out of the cities on foot.
14 And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them. And He healed their sick.
15 And when evening had come, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a desert place. And the time is already late. Dismiss the multitude, so that they may go into the towns and buy food.
16 But Jesus said to them, “They have no need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 Then said they to Him, “We have here only five loaves, and two fishes.”
18 And He said, “Bring them here to Me.”
19 And He commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looked up to Heaven, and blessed and broke, and gave the loaves to His disciples. And the disciples gave them to the multitude.
20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.
21 And those who had eaten (besides women and little children) were about five thousand men.
22 And immediately Jesus compelled His disciples to enter into a ship. And to go over ahead of Him, while He sent away the multitude.
23 And as soon as He had sent the multitude away, He went up into a mountain alone, to pray. And when the evening had come, He was there alone.
24 And the ship was now in the midst of the sea and was tossed with the waves. For it was a contrary wind.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.
26 And when His disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a spirit!” And they cried out for fear.
27 But immediately, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good comfort! It is I! Do not be afraid!”
28 Then Peter answered Him, and said, “Master, if it is You, ask me to come to You on the water!”
29 And He said, “Come!” And when Peter had come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the mighty wind, he was afraid. And as he began to sink, he cried, saying, “Master! Save me!”
31 So immediately, Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith. Why did you doubt?
32 And as soon as they had come up into the ship, the wind ceased.
33 Then those who were in the ship, came and worshipped Him, saying, “Truly, You are the Son of God!”
34 And when they had come over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
35 And when the men of that place knew Him, they sent word out around all that country, and brought to Him all who were sick;
36 and begged Him, that they might touch merely the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made whole.
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