Mattithyahu (Matthew) 13
13
1And on that day יהושע went out of the house and sat by the sea.
2And large crowds were gathered together to Him, so that He went into a boat and sat down. And all the crowd stood on the beach.
3And He spoke to them much in parables, saying, “See, the sower went out to sow.
4“And as he sowed, some indeed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them.
5“And others fell on rocky places, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.
6“But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered.
7“And others fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them.
8“And others fell on good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
10And the taught ones came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11And He answering, said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the reign of the heavens,#Mattithyahu uses the word “heaven(s)” as an euphemism for the Name or designation of the Father, while Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10 use the Father’s Name/designation. but to them it has not been given.#See also Mark 4:33, 34
12“For whoever possesses, to him more shall be given, and he shall have overflowingly; but whoever does not possess, even what he possesses shall be taken away from him.#See Luke 8:18.
13“Because of this I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14“And in them the prophecy of Yeshayahu is completely filled, which says, ‘Hearing you shall hear and by no means understand, and seeing you shall see and by no means perceive,
15for the heart of this people has become thickened, and their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart, and turn back, and I heal them.’# Isa. 6:9, 10
16“And blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear,
17for truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous ones 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:
19“When anyone hears the word of the reign, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is that sown by the wayside.
20“And that sown on rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,
21yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived, and when pressure or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22“And that sown among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the worry of this age and the deceit of riches choke the word, and it becomes fruitless.# Luke 21:34; 2Tim. 3:4
23“And that sown on the good soil is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields – some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
24Another parable He put before them, saying, “The reign of the heavens has become like a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel#Darnel looks like wheat but is poisonous to man and beast. among the wheat and went away.
26“And when the blade sprouted and bore fruit, then the darnel also appeared.
27“And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? From where then does it have the darnel?’
28“And he said to them, ‘A man, an enemy did this.’ And the servants said to him, ‘Do you wish then, that we go and gather them up?’
29“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the darnel you also uproot the wheat with them.
30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I shall say to the reapers, “First gather the darnel and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my granary.” ’ ”
31Another parable He put before them, saying, “The reign of the heavens is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
32which indeed is less than all the seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and dwell in its branches.”# Psa. 104:12; Ezek. 17:23; Ezek. 31:6; Dan. 4:12
33Another parable He spoke to them, “The reign of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until all was leavened.”
34יהושע said all this to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable,
35so that what was spoken by the prophet might be filled, saying, “I shall open My mouth in parables, I shall pour forth what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”# Psa. 78:2
36Then, having sent the crowds away, יהושע went into the house. And His taught ones came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel of the field.”
37And He answering, said to them, “He who is sowing the good seed is the Son of Aḏam,
38and the field is the world. And the good seed, these are the sons of the reign, but the darnel are the sons of the wicked one,
39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the messengers.
40“As the darnel, then, is gathered and burned in the fire, so it shall be at the end of this age.
41“The Son of Aḏam shall send out His messengers, and they shall gather out of His reign all the stumbling-blocks,#Or all the causes of sinning/offence. and those doing lawlessness,# Zeph. 1:3#The darnel of Mat. 13:25.
42and shall throw them into the furnace of fire – there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43“Then the righteous#See Psa. 37:29; Psa. 72:7; Psa. 75:10; Psa. 118:19, 20; Psa. 146:8; Mal. 3:18; Rev. 22:11 shall shine forth as the sun# Dan. 12:3 in the reign of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
44“Again, the reign of the heavens is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man having found it, hid, and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45“Again, the reign of the heavens is like a man, a merchant, seeking fine pearls,
46“who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47“Again, the reign of the heavens is like a dragnet that was thrown into the sea and gathered some of every kind,
48which, when it was filled, they drew to shore. And they sat down and gathered the good into containers, but threw the rotten away.
49“Thus shall it be at the end of the age: the messengers shall come forth, and separate the wicked out of the midst of the righteous,
50and shall throw them into the furnace of fire – there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
51יהושע said to them, “Have you understood all this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Master.”
52And He said to them, “Therefore every scholar taught in the reign of the heavens is like a householder who brings out of his treasure matters, renewed and old.”
53And it came to be, when יהושע had ended these parables, that He left there.
54And when He had come to His own country, He taught them in their congregation, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this One get this wisdom and miracles?
55“Is this not the son of the carpenter? Is not His mother called Miryam? And His brothers Ya‛aqoḇ and Yosĕph and Shim‛on and Yehuḏah?
56“And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this One get all this?”
57And they stumbled at Him. But יהושע said to them, “A prophet is not unappreciated except in his own country and in his own house.”
58And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
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Mattithyahu (Matthew) 13: TS2009
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Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.
Matthew 13
13
A Harvest Story
1-3a At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.
3b-8 “What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
9“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”
Why Tell Stories?
10The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”
11-15He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:
Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are stupid!
They stick their fingers in their ears
so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
so they won’t have to look,
so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
and let me heal them.
16-17“But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.
The Meaning of the Harvest Story
18-19“Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20-21“The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
22“The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
23“The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”
* * *
24-26He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.
27“The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’
28“He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’
“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’
29-30“He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’”
31-32Another story. “God’s kingdom is like an acorn that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge oak tree, and eagles build nests in it.”
33Another story. “God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises.”
34-35All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy:
I will open my mouth and tell stories;
I will bring out into the open
things hidden since the world’s first day.
The Curtain of History
36Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, “Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field.”
37-39So he explained. “The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels.
40-43“The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father.
“Are you listening to this? Really listening?
44“God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46“Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for exquisite pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47-50“Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
51Jesus asked, “Are you starting to get a handle on all this?”
They answered, “Yes.”
52He said, “Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”
53-57When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse. He stole the show, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise, get such ability?” But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “We’ve known him since he was a kid; he’s the carpenter’s son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?” They got all bent out of shape.
58But Jesus said, “A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family.” He didn’t do many miracles there because of their hostile indifference.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.