Matthew 13:29-39

29 But he said, ¹'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ²Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

31 He put another parable before them, saying, ³"The kingdom of heaven is like ⁴a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

33 He told them another parable. ⁵"The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in ⁶three measures of flour, till it was ⁷all leavened."

Prophecy and Parables

34 ⁸All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.

35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:^[a]9"I will open my mouth in parables; ¹⁰I will utter what has been hidden ¹¹since the foundation of the world."

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 Then he left the crowds and went into ¹²the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, ¹³"Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."

37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

38 The field is the world, and the good seed is ¹⁴the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are ¹⁵the sons of the evil one,

39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. ¹⁶The harvest is ¹⁷the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.