30
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers,
1Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. ’”
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
31 He put another parable before them, saying,
2“The kingdom of heaven is like
3a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
32
It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. ”
33
He told them another parable.
4“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in
5three measures of flour, till it was
6all leavened. ”
Prophecy and Parables
34 7All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
35
This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
8“I will open my mouth in parables;
9I will utter what has been hidden
10since the foundation of the world. ”
The Parable of the Weeds Explained
36 Then he left the crowds and went into
11the house. And his disciples came to him, saying,
12“Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. ”
37
He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
38
The field is the world, and the good seed is
13the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are
14the sons of the evil one,
39
and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.
15The harvest is
16the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40
Just as the weeds
17are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at
18the end of the age.