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And He was saying to them, "Takecarewhat you listen to. 1By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.
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"2For whoeverhas, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, evenwhat he has shall be takenaway from him."
Parable of the Seed
26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like* a man who castsseed upon the soil;
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and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seedsprouts and grows-how, he himself does not know.
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"The soilproducescrops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the maturegrain in the head.
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"But when the croppermits, he immediately3puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
Parable of the Mustard Seed
304And He said, "How shall we 5picture the kingdom of God, or by whatparable shall we present it?
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"It is like a mustardseed, which, whensown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,
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yetwhen it is sown, it grows up and becomeslarger than all the gardenplants and formslargebranches; so that 6THE BIRDS OF THE AIRcanNESTUNDER ITS SHADE."
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With manysuchparables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;
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and He did not speak to them 7without a parable; but He was 8explainingeverythingprivately* to His owndisciples.