Matthew 13:13-23

13 "Therefore * I speak to them in parables; because while ¹seeing 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, '²YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;

15 ³FOR 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 "⁴But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

17 "For truly I say to you that ⁵many 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 "⁶Hear then the parable of the sower.

19 "When anyone hears ⁷the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, ⁸the 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 ⁹falls 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 ¹⁰the world and the ¹¹deceitfulness 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 ¹²a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

Cross References

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

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "For them"
• [b] Lit "With a hearing you will hear"
• [c] Lit "and"
• [d] Lit "Seeing you will see"
• [e] I.e. message
• [f] I.e. message
• [g] Lit "is caused to stumble"
• [h] Or "age"