Matthew 13:1-23

Jesus Teaches in Parables

1 That day Jesus went out of ¹the house and was sitting ²by the sea.

2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so ³He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

3 And He spoke many things to them in ⁴parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow;

4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

5 "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

6 "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

7 "Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

8 "And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a ⁵hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

9 "⁶He who has ears, let him hear."

An Explanation

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why * do You speak to them in parables?"

11 Jesus answered them, "⁷To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

12 "⁸For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

13 "Therefore * I speak to them in parables; because while ⁹seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

14 "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, '¹⁰YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;

15 ¹¹FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.'

16 "¹²But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

17 "For truly I say to you that ¹³many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Sower Explained

18 "¹⁴Hear then the parable of the sower.

19 "When anyone hears ¹⁵the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, ¹⁶the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he ¹⁷falls away.

22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of ¹⁸the world and the ¹⁹deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some ²⁰a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 9:28; Matthew 13:36
• 2. Matthew 13:1-15: {Mark 4:1-12; Luke 8:4-10;} Mark 2:13
• 3. Luke 5:3
• 4. Matthew 13:10f; Mark 4:2f
• 5. Genesis 26:12; Matthew 13:23
• 6. Matthew 11:15; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; Revelation 3:6, 13, 22
• 7. Matthew 19:11; Matthew 20:23; John 6:65; 1 Corinthians 2:10; Colossians 1:27; 1 John 2:20, 27
• 8. Matthew 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18; Luke 19:26
• 9. Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 42:19, 20; Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2
• 10. Isaiah 6:9; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40; Acts 28:26, 27; Romans 10:16; Romans 11:8
• 11. Isaiah 6:10; Psalms 119:70; Zechariah 7:11; Luke 19:42; John 8:43, 44; 2 Timothy 4:4; Hebrews 5:11
• 12. Matthew 13:16, 17: {Luke 10:23, 24;} Matthew 16:17; John 20:29
• 13. John 8:56; Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 1:10-12
• 14. Matthew 13:18-23: {Mark 4:13-20; Luke 8:11-15}
• 15. Matthew 4:23
• 16. Matthew 5:37
• 17. Matthew 11:6
• 18. Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:39; Mark 4:19; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6, 8; 1 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:2
• 19. Matthew 19:23; 1 Tim 6:9, 10, 17
• 20. Matthew 13:8

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "Many"
• [b]. Lit "upon"
• [c]. Or "hear!" Or "listen!"
• [d]. Lit "He"
• [e]. Lit "For them"
• [f]. Lit "With a hearing you will hear"
• [g]. Lit "and"
• [h]. Lit "Seeing you will see"
• [i]. I.e. message
• [j]. I.e. message
• [k]. Lit "is caused to stumble"
• [l]. Or "age"