Matthew 13:34

Purpose of parables to the crowds

34 Jesus said all these things to the crowds in parables, and he spoke to them only in parables.

Matthew 13:34 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 13:34

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude
In the hearing of his disciples, whilst in the ship, the multitude being on the shore,

in parables;
in the four foregoing ones;

and without a parable spake he not unto them:
not that he never had preached but in a parabolical way unto them, or that he never did afterwards use any other way of speaking; for it is certain, that both before and after, he delivered himself plainly, and without figures: but the meaning is, that in that sermon, and at that time, he thought fit to make use of no other method, as appears from the many other parables he afterwards delivered; and though he explained the meaning of some of them to his disciples, at their request, yet he dismissed the multitude without any explication of them.

Matthew 13:34 In-Context

32 It's the smallest of all seeds. But when it's grown, it's the largest of all vegetable plants. It becomes a tree so that the birds in the sky come and nest in its branches."

33 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through all the dough."

34 Jesus said all these things to the crowds in parables, and he spoke to them only in parables.

35 This was to fulfill what the prophet spoke: I'll speak in parables; I'll declare what has been hidden since the beginning of the world.

36 Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."