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Matthew 13

1On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2Large crowds gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore. 3He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Look, the sower went out to sow. 4As he sowed, some seeds fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5Others fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up immediately because the soil had no depth. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered. 7Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Others fell on good soil and produced fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9Let the one who has ears hear.”

10The disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11He answered them, “Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12For whoever has will be given more and will have an abundance, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13For this reason I speak to them in parables: because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear or understand. 14And in them Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled, which says:

‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed look but never see. 15For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they have heard with difficulty, and they have shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I will heal them.’

16“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For truly I tell you that many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

18“You, then, hear the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and seizes what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown beside the path. 20The one sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21but he has no root in himself and lasts only a while. When affliction or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately stumbles. 22The one sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worry of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23The one sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

24He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26When the crop sprouted and produced fruit, the weeds appeared too. 27The householder's slaves came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28He said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I will tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them up, but gather the wheat into my storehouse.’”

31He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in his field. 32It is smaller than all the seeds, but when it grows it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

33He spoke another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

34Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables, and he said nothing to them without a parable, 35so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:

“I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation.”

36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the completion of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40So just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the completion of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom everything that causes stumbling and those who practice lawlessness, 42and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and grinding of teeth there. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let the one who has ears hear.

44“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a person found and hid. In his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. 45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. 46When he found one very valuable pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.

47“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet thrown into the sea that gathered fish of every kind. 48When it was full, they pulled it onto the shore, sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but threw the rotten out. 49So it will be at the completion of the age: the angels will go out and separate the evil from among the righteous 50and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and grinding of teeth there.

51“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52He said to them, “For this reason every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings new and old things out of his treasure.”

53When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54He came to his hometown and taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty deeds? 55Is this not the carpenter's son? Is his mother not called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56And are not all his sisters here with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57And they stumbled because of him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own house.” 58And he did not do many mighty deeds there because of their unbelief.

Translation notes 8

13:3–9, 18–23 — Sower, seed, and fruit. The explanation shifts between the seed, the word, and the person receiving it. “The one sown” preserves this shift rather than rewriting the entire comparison. The hundred, sixty, and thirty are the yield relative to what was sown. “Stumbles” in verse 21 describes falling away under affliction or persecution.

13:11–17 — Mysteries and understanding. The mysteries are previously hidden matters now disclosed, not merely unsolvable puzzles. Matthew says “because” in verse 13; the wording is not changed to match Mark. The Isaiah 6:9–10 quotation preserves the refusal to see and the difficult “lest” clause. It does not settle every question about divine agency and human responsibility.

13:24–30 — Weeds and slaves. The weeds are commonly identified as darnel, a grass resembling wheat as it grows. “Slaves” retains the household relationship. “Gather” is repeated where the Greek repeats it; the final gathering of wheat uses another Greek verb with a similar sense.

13:31–33 — Mustard and leaven. The comparison retains “smaller than all the seeds” and the tree image without adding a botanical qualification. Leaven was a fermenting agent used in bread; the woman “hid” it in the flour. The three measures are three sata, a substantial quantity; the reading does not substitute a falsely exact modern measurement.

13:35 — Prophet; foundation. The quotation recalls Psalm 78:2. Some manuscripts name Isaiah, though SBLGNT has only “the prophet.” Other Greek editions add “of the world” after “foundation.” The shorter base reading is retained; creation is the natural reference.

13:38–43, 49–50 — Sons and judgment. “Sons of the kingdom” and “sons of the evil one” preserve family imagery without restricting either group to males. “Completion of the age” does not mean the same thing as the word “world” in verse 38. The furnace and grinding of teeth retain the judgment imagery; the text does not use the name Gehenna here.

13:44–52 — Treasure, fish, and scribe. “Fish” is supplied from the net's setting. “Rotten” can here mean bad or unfit; it need not mean every rejected fish was decomposing. The scribe is a learned interpreter who has become a disciple; the metaphor is not rewritten as a rule about which old teachings must be retained.

13:55–58 — Family and unbelief. “Brothers” and “sisters” are retained without inserting a theory of their precise family relationships. SBLGNT names Joseph; some manuscripts have Joses. “Stumbled because of him” means they took offense at him. Matthew says Jesus did not do many mighty deeds; the wording is not changed to Mark's “could not.”