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"And he said to them, 'An enemy* has donethis!' The slavessaid to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'
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"But he said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.
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'Allowboth to growtogetheruntil the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "Firstgather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but 1gather the wheat into my barn."' "
The Mustard Seed
31 He presentedanotherparable to them, saying, "2The kingdom of heaven is like3a mustardseed, which a mantook and sowed in his field;
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and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is fullgrown, it is larger than the gardenplants and becomes a tree, so that 4THE BIRDS OF THE AIRcome and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES."
The Leaven
33 He spokeanotherparable to them, "5The kingdom of heaven is likeleaven, which a womantook and hid in 6threepecks of flouruntil it was allleavened."
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AllthesethingsJesusspoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them 7without a parable.
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This was to fulfillwhat was spokenthrough the prophet: "8I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTERTHINGSHIDDENSINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD."
The Tares Explained
36Then He left the crowds and went into 9the house. And His disciplescame to Him and said, "10Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
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And He said, "The one who sows the goodseed is 11the Son of Man,
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and the field is the world; and as for the goodseed, these are 12the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are 13the sons of 14the evil one;