Matthew 13

1On that day Jesus went out from the house and sat beside the sea.

2And many crowds gathered to him, so that he entered a boat and sat, while all the crowd stood on the shore.

3And he told them many things in parables, saying, "Look, the sower went out to sow."

4As he sowed, some fell beside the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

5Others fell on rocky places where there wasn't much soil, and immediately they sprang up because there was no depth of soil.

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

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

8But others fell on good soil and bore fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty.

9Whoever has ears, let him hear.

10Then the disciples came to him and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"

11He answered them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to those it has not been given."

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

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

14And Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled for them, which says: “Hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive.”

15For this people's heart has become callous, and they heard dully with their ears, and they shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I heal them.

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

17For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people desired to see what you see and did not see them, and to hear what you hear and did not hear them.

18You, then, hear the parable of the sower.

19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom but fails to understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown beside the path.

20But the one sown on the rocky places is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

21yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived; when distress or persecution arises on account of the word, he stumbles immediately.

22And the one sown among thorns—this is the one who hears the word—but the anxiety of this age and the deceit of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23But the one sown on good soil is the person who hears the word and understands it—who indeed bears fruit and yields some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty.

24He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven resembles a man who sowed good seed in his field."

25But while people slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.

26But when the blade sprouted and bore fruit, then the tares appeared too.

27The master's servants came and said to him, "Lord, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then do the tares come from?"

28He said to them, "An enemy man did this." The servants said to him, "Do you want us then to go gather them?"

29But he said, “No, lest while gathering the tares you uproot the wheat with them.”

30Allow both to grow together until the harvest, and at harvest season I will direct the reapers: "First gather the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my storehouse."

31He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of the heavens is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field."

32which indeed 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 dwell in its branches.

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

34Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the crowds, and without a parable he spoke 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."

36Then after dismissing the crowds, he went into the house, and his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."

37He answered and said, "The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man."

38The field is the world; the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one.

39The enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40Therefore, just as the tares are gathered and burned in fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all the stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness.

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

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

44The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; in his joy he goes away, sells everything he has, and buys that field.

45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man, a merchant, seeking fine pearls.

46When he found one pearl of extraordinary worth, he went away, sold everything he possessed, and bought it.

47Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea that gathered from every kind.

48which, when it was filled, they hauled onto the shore and sat down, collected the good into vessels, but cast the rotten out.

49So it will be at the end of the age: the angels will come forth and separate the evil from among the righteous.

50and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.

52Then he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like a man, a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things."

53And it happened that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

54When he arrived in his hometown, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were amazed and said, "Where has this one gotten this wisdom and these powers?"

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

56And aren't all his sisters with us? Where then does this man get all these things?

57And they took offense at him, but Jesus said to them, "A prophet lacks no honor except in his hometown and his own home."

58And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.