Matthew 13:1-14

1 And that [same] day Jesus went out from the house and sat down by the sea.

2 And great crowds were gathered together to him, so that going on board ship himself he sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the shore.

3 And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow:

4 and as he sowed, some [grains] fell along the way, and the birds came and devoured them;

5 and others fell upon the rocky places where they had not much earth, and immediately they sprang up out of [the ground] because of not having [any] depth of earth,

6 but when the sun rose they were burned up, and because of not having [any] root were dried up;

7 and others fell upon the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them;

8 and others fell upon the good ground, and produced fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty.

9 He that has ears, let him hear.

10 And the disciples came up and said to him, Why speakest thou to them in parables?

11 And he answering said to them, Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given;

12 for whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall be caused to be in abundance; but he who has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

13 For this cause I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear nor understand;

14 and in them is filled up the prophecy of Esaias, which says, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and beholding ye shall behold and not see;

Footnotes

• [a]. Hostis: as ch. 7.24.
• [b]. As to the good thing given. It is abstract; the object is not to day what is given, but the manner of God's dealing. What is given is caused to be in abundance. We may say, also, 'he shall be in abundance,' a word used of the thing and of the person possessing it
• [c]. i.e. what is wanting is supplied and so 'filled up.' Since Esaias's time there had been much of this, but the rejection of Christ completed and filled it up. 'In them' has therefore the sense of 'as to,' 'in their case.' 'By' would cast more on their act and responsibility: epi seems to have been introduced to avoid this sense of it.
• [d]. Isa. 6.9-10.
• [e]. Emphatic negative.