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But he replied, "No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.
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Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.' "
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He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;
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it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
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He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."
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Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing.
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This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world."
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Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."
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He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;
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the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,
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and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.