Matthew 13:7

The thorns grew up (anebhsan ai akanqai). Not "sprang up" as in verse John 5 , for a different verb occurs meaning "came up" out of the ground, the seeds of the thorns being already in the soil, "upon the thorns" (epi ta akanqa) rather than "among the thorns." But the thorns got a quick start as weeds somehow do and "choked them" (apepnixan auta, effective aorist of apopnigw), "choked them off" literally. Luke ( Luke 8:33 ) uses it of the hogs in the water. Who has not seen vegetables and flowers and corn made yellow by thorns and weeds till they sicken and die?