What are the parables of the kingdom about?

¹On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

²Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.

³He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

⁴As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

⁶When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

⁷Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

⁸Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

⁹He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

¹¹He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

¹²For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

¹³Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

¹⁴In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

¹⁵for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and should turn again; and I would heal them.’

¹⁶“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

¹⁷For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.

¹⁸“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

²⁰What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;

²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

²²What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

²³What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

²⁴He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

²⁵but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.

²⁶But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

²⁷The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel come from?’

²⁸“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

²⁹“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

³¹He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;

³²which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

³³He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measuresof meal, until it was all leavened.”

³⁴Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,

³⁵that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

³⁶Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

³⁷He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

³⁸the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

³⁹The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,

⁴²and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

⁴⁴“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

⁴⁶who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,

⁴⁸which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

⁴⁹So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

⁵⁰and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”

⁵¹Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”

⁵²He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

⁵⁴Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works?

⁵⁵Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?”

⁵⁷They were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.”

⁵⁸He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

²⁶He said, “The Kingdom of God is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,

²⁷and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how.

²⁸For the earth bears fruit: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

²⁹But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰He said, “How will we liken the Kingdom of God? Or with what parable will we illustrate it?

³¹It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,

³²yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

³⁴Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.