Old/New Testament

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:

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.’ ”