Matthew 13
13
Matthew 13
1¶ The same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea side.
2And a great multitude was gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow;
4and when he sowed, some of the seed fell beside the way, and the fowls came and devoured them up.
5Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprang up because they had no deepness of earth;
6and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
8But some fell into good ground and brought forth fruit: one a hundredfold and another sixtyfold and another thirtyfold.
He
9who has ears to hear, let him hear.
10Then the disciples came and said unto him, Why dost thou speak unto them in parables?
11He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given.
12For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have in abundance; but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has.
13Therefore, I speak to them in parables because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive;
15for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.
18Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he who was planted beside the way.
20But he that was planted in stony places, the same is he that hears the word and receives it immediately with joy;
21yet he has no root in himself but is temporal, for when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22And he that was planted among the thorns is he that hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
23But he that was planted in good ground is he that hears the word and understands it and who also bears the fruit and brings forth: one a hundredfold and another sixty and another thirty.
24¶ He put forth another parable unto them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is likened unto a man who sows good seed in his field
25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.
26But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then the tares appeared also.
27So the slaves of the husband of the house came and said unto him, Lord, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From where then does it have tares?
28He said unto them, The enemy, a man, has done this. The slaves said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29But he said, No, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
31He put forth another parable unto them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;
32which indeed is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and make their nests in its branches.
33He spoke another parable unto them: The kingdom of the heavens is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.
34Jesus spoke all these things unto the multitude in parables and said nothing unto them without parables
35that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
36Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house, and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man;
38the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked;
39and the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this age.
41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and those who do iniquity
42and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
44¶ Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto treasure hid in the field, which when found, a man hides it and, for the joy thereof, goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls,
46who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind of fish,
48which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49So shall it be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth and separate the wicked from among the just
50and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They answered unto him, Yes, Lord.
52And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who is instructed in the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man, a husband of a house, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.
53¶ And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.
54And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, From where does this man have 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 does this man have all these things?
57And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house.
58And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
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Matthew 13: JUB
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International
Matthew 13
13
A story about a farmer
(Mark 4.1-9; Luke 8.4-8)
1That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach.#13.1 sat down to teach: Teachers in the ancient world, including Jewish teachers, usually sat down when they taught. 2Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore.#Lk 5.1-3. 3Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said:
A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. 4While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. 5Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn't very deep. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. 7Some other seeds fell where thorn bushes grew up and choked the plants. 8But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered. 9If you have ears, pay attention!
Why Jesus used stories
(Mark 4.10-12; Luke 8.9,10)
10Jesus' disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you use nothing but stories when you speak to the people?”
11Jesus answered:
I have explained the secrets about the kingdom of heaven to you, but not to others. 12Everyone who has something will be given more. But people who don't have anything will lose even what little they have.#Mt 25.29; Mk 4.25; Lk 8.18; 19.26. 13I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand. 14So God's promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,#Is 6.9,10 (LXX).
“These people will listen
and listen,
but never understand.
They will look and look,
but never see.
15All of them have
stubborn minds!
Their ears are stopped up,
and their eyes are covered.
They cannot see or hear
or understand.
If they could,
they would turn to me,
and I would heal them.”
16But God has blessed you, because your eyes can see and your ears can hear!#Lk 10.23,24. 17Many prophets and good people were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.
Jesus explains the story about the farmer
(Mark 4.13-20; Luke 8.11-15)
18Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:
19The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. 20The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it straight away. 21But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.
22The seeds that fell among the thorn bushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. 23The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.
Weeds among the wheat
24Jesus then told them this story:
The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered good seed in a field. 25But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weeds in the field and then left.
26When the plants came up and began to ripen, the farmer's servants could see the weeds. 27The servants came and asked, “Sir, didn't you scatter good seed in your field? Where did these weeds come from?”
28“An enemy did this,” he replied.
His servants then asked, “Do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?”
29“No!” he answered. “You might also pull up the wheat. 30Leave the weeds alone until harvest time. Then I'll tell my workers to gather the weeds and tie them up and burn them. But I'll order them to store the wheat in my barn.”
Stories about a mustard seed and yeast
(Mark 4.30-32; Luke 13.18-21)
31Jesus told them another story:
The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a farmer plants a mustard seed in a field. 32Although it is the smallest of all seeds, it grows larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree. Birds even come and nest on its branches.
33Jesus also said:
The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a woman mixes a little yeast into three big batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.
The reason for teaching with stories
(Mark 4.33,34)
34Jesus used stories when he spoke to the people. In fact, he did not tell them anything without using stories. 35So God's promise came true, just as the prophet#13.35 the prophet: Some manuscripts have “the prophet Isaiah”. had said,#Ps 78.2.
“I will use stories
to speak my message
and to explain things
that have been hidden
since the creation
of the world.”
Jesus explains the story about the weeds
36After Jesus left the crowd and went inside,#13.36 went inside: Or “went home”. his disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the story about the weeds in the wheat field.”
37Jesus answered:
The one who scattered the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seeds are the people who belong to the kingdom. The weeds are those who belong to the evil one, 39and the one who scattered them is the devil. The harvest is the end of time, and angels are the ones who bring in the harvest.
40Weeds are gathered and burnt. That's how it will be at the end of time. 41The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everyone who does wrong or causes others to sin. 42Then he will throw them into a flaming furnace, where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain. 43But everyone who has done right will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. If you have ears, pay attention!
A hidden treasure
Jesus continued:
44The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. A person like that is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.
A valuable pearl
Jesus continued:
45The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls. 46After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.
A fish net
Jesus continued:
47The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a net is thrown into a lake and catches all kinds of fish. 48When the net is full, it is dragged to the shore, and the fishermen sit down to separate the fish. They keep the good ones, but throw the bad ones away. 49That's how it will be at the end of time. Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right. 50Then those evil people will be thrown into a flaming furnace, where they will cry and grit their teeth in pain.
New and old treasures
51Jesus asked his disciples if they understood all these things. They said, “Yes, we do.”
52So he told them, “Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom.”
The people of Nazareth turn against Jesus
(Mark 6.1-6; Luke 4.16-30)
53When Jesus had finished telling these stories, he left 54and went to his home town. He taught in their meeting place, and the people were so amazed that they asked, “Where does he get all this wisdom and the power to perform these miracles? 55Isn't he the son of the carpenter? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? 56Don't his sisters still live here in our town? How can he do all this?” 57So the people were very unhappy because of what he was doing.
But Jesus said, “Prophets are honoured by everyone, except the people of their home town and their own family.” 58And because the people did not have any faith, Jesus did not perform many miracles there.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012