¹ THEN the same day Jesus going out from the house, sat down near the sea.

² And vast multitudes were gathered together unto him, insomuch that he entered into a vessel to be seated; and all the multitude stood on the beach.

³ And he spake unto them many things in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went out to sow:

⁴ and as he was sowing, some seeds fell indeed by the road-side; and the birds came and ate them up:

⁵ and other seed fell on a rocky soil, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:

⁶ and when the sun arose, it was scorched up; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷ And other seeds fell among the thorns; and the thorns sprang up and choked them:

⁸ but others fell on good ground, and produced fruit, some an hundred, some sixty, and some thirty.

⁹ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁰ And when his disciples came, they said to him, Why speakest thou to them in parables?

¹¹ And he answered and said unto them, Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

¹² For whosoever hath, more shall be given to him, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, even that he hath shall be taken from him.

¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables: that seeing, they may not see; and hearing, they may not hear nor understand.

¹⁴ And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, With the hearing ye shall hear, and not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and in no wise perceive:

¹⁵ for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with the eves, and hear with the ears, and understand with the heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes; for ye see: and your ears; for ye hear.

¹⁷ For verily I tell you, That many prophets and righteous men have greatly desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

¹⁸ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

¹⁹ When any person heareth the word of the kingdom, and doth not understand it, the wicked one cometh, and snatcheth away what was sown on his heart: such is he who is the sown by the road-side.

²⁰ But the sown on the rocky soil, is he who having heard the word, and instantly with joy receiving it,

²¹ hath not really root in himself, but is merely temporary: and when tribulation or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately he is stumbled.

²² But the sown among the thorns, is he who heareth the word, and the anxiety about this world and the deceitfulness of riches, choketh the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

²³ But the sown upon the good ground, is he who heareth the word, and understandeth it; who truly beareth fruit, and produceth, one an hundred fold, and another sixty, and another thirty.

²⁴ Another parable proposed he to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who sowed good seed in his field:

²⁵ and while the men were asleep, his enemy came and sowed zizane among the wheat, and departed.

²⁶ But when the blade was shot up, and produced fruit, then appeared also the zizane.

²⁷ The servants of the proprietor came, and said to him, Master, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it the zizane?

²⁸ He saith unto them, Some man, an enemy, hath done this. Then the servants said to him, Wilt thou that we go and weed them out?

²⁹ he replied, No; lest perhaps in weeding out the zizane, we root up the wheat with them.

³⁰ Let them both grow together till the harvest: and at the harvest-time I will say to the reapers, Gather out first the zizane, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

³¹ Another parable he proposed to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard, which a man took and sowed in his field:

³² which indeed is among the smallest of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is among the greatest of herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make their nests in the branches of it.

³³ Another parable spake he to them: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and covered up in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened.

³⁴ All these things spake Jesus in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable he spake not to them:

³⁵ that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables, I will bring forth things hid from the foundation of the world.

³⁶ Then Jesus dismissing the multitudes, went into a house; and his disciples came unto him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the zizane of the field.

³⁷ And he replying said to them, He that sowed the good seed, is the Son of man;

³⁸ the field is the world: and the good seed are those who are the children of the kingdom; but the zizane are the children of the wicked one;

³⁹ the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

⁴⁰ As therefore the zizane are gathered, and burned in the fire; just so shall it be at the end of this world.

⁴¹ The Son of man shall send out his angels, and shall gather together out of his kingdom all things offensive, and those who practise iniquity;

⁴² and will cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³ Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

⁴⁴ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field: which when a man findeth, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth away and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

⁴⁵ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchantman in search of beautiful pearls:

⁴⁶ who, having discovered one of vast price, went away and sold all that he possessed, and bought it.

⁴⁷ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and colleting fish of every kind:

⁴⁸ which, when it was full, they drew to the beach, and sitting down, selected the good into baskets, but cast those of a bad kind away.

⁴⁹ Just so shall it be at the end of this world: the angels shall go forth, and shall separate the wicked from amidst the just,

⁵⁰ and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹ Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things?

⁵² They say unto him, Yes, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man, the master of a family, who bringeth out of his storehouse things new and old.

⁵³ And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished there parables, he departed thence.

⁵⁴ And coming into his own country, taught them in their synagogues, so that they were exceedingly struck, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these miracles?