Bible Time

¹THAT same day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside. ²And many people gathered around him, so that he had to go up and sit in a boat, and all the people stood on the seashore. ³And he spoke many things to them in parables, and said, Look the sower went out to sow; ⁴And when he had sown, some seed fell on the roadside, and the birds came and ate it. ⁵Other fell on the rock, where there was not sufficient soil; and it sprang up earlier because the ground was not deep enough; ⁶But when the sun shone, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it dried up. ⁷And other fell among thistles, and the thistles sprung up and choked it. ⁸And other fell in good soil, and bore fruit, some 100, some 60 and some 30. ⁹He who has ears to hear, let him hear. ¹⁰Then his disciples drew near to him and said, Why do you speak to them in parables? ¹¹He answered and said to them, Because to you it is granted to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but it is not granted to them. ¹²For to him who has, will be given and it will increase to him; but to him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³This is the reason I speak to them in figures, because they see yet cannot perceive; and they hear yet do not listen, nor do they understand. ¹⁴And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah who said, Hearing you will hear, but you will not understand; and seeing you will see, but you will not know. ¹⁵For the heart of this people has become hardened, and their ears hear heavily, and their eyes are dull; so that they cannot see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts; let them return, and I will heal them. ¹⁶But as for you, blessed are your eyes for they see; and your ears for they hear. ¹⁷For truly I say to you, a great many prophets and righteous men have longed to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. ¹⁸Now listen to the parable of the seed. ¹⁹Whoever hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away the word which was sown in his heart. This is what was sown on the roadside. ²⁰That which was sown on the rock, this is he who hears the word, and immediately accepts it with joy; ²¹But it has no root in him, except awhile; and when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately stumbles. ²²That which was sown among thistles, this is he who hears the word, but worldly thoughts and the deception caused by riches choke the word, and it becomes fruitless. ²³That which was sown on good soil, this is he who hears my word, and understands it, so he bears fruit and produces some 100, some 60 and some 30.

²⁴He related another parable to them, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵And when the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶But when the blade sprang up and bore fruit, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷So the servants of the landowner came and said to him, Our lord, look, did you not sow good seed in your field; where did the tares come from? ²⁸He said to them, An enemy did this. His servants then said to him, Do you want us to go and pick them out? ²⁹But he said to them, It might happen that while you are picking out the tares, you might also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at the harvest season, I will say to the reapers, Pick out the tares first, and bind them into bundles to be burned; but gather the wheat into my barns.

³¹He related another parable to them, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. ³²It is the smallest of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is larger than all the herbs; and it becomes a tree, so the birds of the sky nest in its branches.

³³He told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and buried in 3 measures of flour, until it was all leavened. ³⁴Jesus spoke all these things to the people in parables; and without parables he did not speak to them. ³⁵So that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophet, who said, I will open my mouth in parables, and I will bring out secrets hidden before the foundation of the world.

³⁶Then Jesus left the multitudes and came into the house; and his disciples came up to him, and said, Explain to us the parable of the tares and the field. ³⁷He answered and said to them, He who sowed 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 evil. ³⁹The enemy who sowed them is Satan. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰Therefore, just as the tares are picked out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. ⁴¹The Son of man will send his angels, and they will pick out from his kingdom all things which cause stumbling, and all workers of iniquity. ⁴²And they will throw them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous ones will shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. ⁴⁴Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure which is hidden in the field, which a man discovered and hid, and because of his joy, he went and sold everything he had, and bought that field. ⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant, who was seeking good pearls. ⁴⁶And when he had found one costly pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it. ⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea, and it gathered fish of every kind. ⁴⁸When it was filled, they drew it to the shore, and sat down and sorted them; the good ones they put into bags, and the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹So it will be at the end of the world; the angels will go out and separate the bad from among the righteous, ⁵⁰And they will throw them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁵¹Jesus said to them, Have you understood all of these things? They said to him, Yes, our Lord. ⁵²He said to them, Therefore, every scribe who is instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like a man who is a householder, who brings out new and old things from his treasures. ⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

⁵⁴He came to his own city and he taught them in their synagogues in such a way that they were amazed and said, Where did he get this wisdom and these wonders? ⁵⁵Is he not the carpenter's son? Is his mother not called Mary? Are his brothers not called Jacob, Joses, Simon and Judah? ⁵⁶Are all his sisters not with us? Where did he get all these things? ⁵⁷And they were perplexed about him. But Jesus said to them, No prophet is insulted, except in his own city and in his own house. ⁵⁸And he did not perform many miracles there, because of their unbelief.