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Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the crowds; he would not say a thing to them without using a parable.
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He did this to make come true what the prophet had said,
1 "I will use parables when I speak to them; I will tell them things unknown since the creation of the world."
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When Jesus had left the crowd and gone indoors, his disciples came to him and said, "Tell us what the parable about the weeds in the field means."
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Jesus answered, "The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man;
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the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One;
39
and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels.
40
Just as the weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of the age:
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the Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things,
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and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth.
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Then God's people will shine like the sun in their Father's Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears!
2
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"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys that field.