Matthew 13

¹Now on that day, having gone out of the house, Jesus was sitting by the sea.

²And great crowds were gathered together to him, so that he got into a boat and sat down, and all the crowd stood on the shore.

³And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying: Behold, the sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵Other seeds fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

⁶But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it was dried up.

⁷Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

⁸But other seed fell on the good soil and was yielding fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

⁹The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁰And the disciples, having come, said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables?

¹¹And he, answering, said to them, Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to those it has not been given.

¹²For whoever has, to him it will be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

¹³For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

¹⁴And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says, In hearing you will hear and by no means understand, and seeing you will see and by no means perceive.

¹⁵For the heart of this people has grown dull, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I should heal them.

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.

¹⁷For amen I say to you that many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

¹⁸You, therefore, hear the parable of the sower:

¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart; this is the one sown along the path.

²⁰And the one sown on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

²¹yet he has no root in himself but is temporary, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

²²And the one sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the care of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²³But the one sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

²⁴Another parable he set before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

²⁵But while the men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

²⁶But when the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also.

²⁷And the slaves of the master of the house came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?

²⁸And he said to them: An enemy, a man, did this. So the servants say to him: Do you wish, then, that we go and gather them?

²⁹But he says, No, lest in gathering the weeds you uproot the wheat together with them.

³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather first the weeds and bind them into bundles to burn them, but the wheat gather into my barn.

³¹Another parable he set before them, saying: The kingdom of the heavens is like a grain of mustard, which a man took and sowed in his field;

³²which indeed is smaller than all the seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.

³³Another parable he spoke to them: The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened.

³⁴All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the crowds, and without a parable he was speaking nothing to them,

³⁵so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.

³⁶Then, leaving the crowds, Jesus went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying: Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.

³⁷And he answering said to them, The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

³⁸and the field is the world, and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom, but the weeds are the sons of the evil one,

³⁹And the enemy who sowed them is the devil; and the harvest is the consummation of the age; and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰Therefore just as the weeds are gathered and burned up with fire, so it will be at the consummation of this age.

⁴¹The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all the causes of stumbling and those who practice lawlessness,

⁴²and they will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.

⁴⁴Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,

⁴⁶and having found one very precious pearl, he went away and sold all that he had and bought it.

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind;

⁴⁸which, when it was filled, they drew up onto the shore, and sitting down they collected the good into vessels, but the bad they threw out.

⁴⁹Thus it will be at the consummation of the age: the angels will go out and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous,

⁵⁰and they will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹Jesus says to them, Have you understood all these things? They say to him, Yes, Lord.

⁵²And he said to them: For this reason every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a master of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

⁵³And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that he withdrew from there.

⁵⁴And coming into his hometown, he was teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, From where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

⁵⁵Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

⁵⁶And his sisters, are they not all with us? From where then did this man get all these things?

⁵⁷And they were caused to stumble at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.

⁵⁸And he did not do many miracles there, because of their unbelief.