1 The same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea side. 2 And a great multitude was gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow; 4 and when he sowed, some of the seed fell beside the way, and the fowls came and devoured them up. 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprang up because they had no deepness of earth; 6 and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But some fell into good ground and brought forth fruit: one a hundredfold and another sixtyfold and another thirtyfold. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
10 Then the disciples came and said unto him, Why dost thou speak unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have in abundance; but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has. 13 Therefore, I speak to them in parables because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive; 15 for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them.
18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he who was planted beside the way. 20 But he that was planted in stony places, the same is he that hears the word and receives it immediately with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself but is temporal, for when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 And he that was planted among the thorns is he that hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he that was planted in good ground is he that hears the word and understands it and who also bears the fruit and brings forth: one a hundredfold and another sixty and another thirty.
24 He put forth another parable unto them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is likened unto a man who sows good seed in his field 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away. 26 But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then the tares appeared also. 27 So the slaves of the husband of the house came and said unto him, Lord, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From where then does it have tares? 28 He said unto them, The enemy, a man, has done this. The slaves said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, No, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
31 He put forth another parable unto them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 which indeed is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and make their nests in its branches.
33 He spoke another parable unto them: The kingdom of the heavens is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.
34 Jesus spoke all these things unto the multitude in parables and said nothing unto them without parables
35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house, and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man; 38 the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked; 39 and the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this age. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and those who do iniquity 42 and shall cast them into the 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 who has ears to hear, let him hear.
44 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto treasure hid in the field, which when found, a man hides it and, for the joy thereof, goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind of fish, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49 So shall it be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth and separate the wicked from among the just 50 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51 Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They answered unto him, Yes, Lord. 52 And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who is instructed in the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man, a husband of a house, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.
53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. 54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said, From where does this man have this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? From where then does this man have all these things? 57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house. 58 And he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.