17
For truly, I say to you that prophets and upright men had a desire to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to have knowledge of the words which have come to your ears, and they had it not.
18
Give ear, then, to the story of the man who put the seed in the earth.
19
When the word of the kingdom comes to anyone, and the sense of it is not clear to him, then the Evil One comes, and quickly takes away that which was put in his heart. He is the seed dropped by the wayside.
20
And that which went on the stones, this is he who, hearing the word, straight away takes it with joy;
21
But having no root in himself, he goes on for a time; and when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, he quickly becomes full of doubts.
22
And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word; and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit.
23
And the seed which was put in good earth, this is he who gives ear to the word, and gets the sense of it; who gives fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much.
24
And he gave them another story, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who put good seed in his field:
25
But while men were sleeping, one who had hate for him came and put evil seeds among the grain, and went away.
26
But when the green stem came up and gave fruit, the evil plants were seen at the same time.
27
And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Sir, did you not put good seed in your field? how then has it evil plants?