Matius 13:3-9

13:3 He ¹  told them many things in parables, ²  saying: “Listen! ³  A sower went out to sow. ⁴  13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds ⁵  fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 13:5 Other ⁶  seeds fell on rocky ground ⁷  where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep. ⁸  13:6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered. 13:7 Other seeds fell among the thorns, ⁹  and they grew up and choked them. ¹⁰  13:8 But other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. 13:9 The one who has ears had better listen!” ¹¹ 

Matius 13:18-30

13:18 “So listen to the parable of the sower: 13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ¹²  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ¹³  this is the seed sown along the path. 13:20 The ¹⁴  seed sown on rocky ground ¹⁵  is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure; ¹⁶  when ¹⁷  trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. 13:22 The ¹⁸  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ¹⁹  choke the word, ²⁰  so it produces nothing. 13:23 But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” ²¹ 

The Parable of the Weeds

13:24 He presented them with another parable: ²²  “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field. 13:25 But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds ²³  among the wheat and went away. 13:26 When ²⁴  the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared. 13:27 So the slaves ²⁵  of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ 13:28 He said, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So ²⁶  the slaves replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’ 13:29 But he said, ‘No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them. 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At ²⁷  harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then ²⁸  gather ²⁹  the wheat into my barn.”’”

Matius 13:36-42

Explanation for the Disciples

13:36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 13:37 He ³⁰  answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 13:38 The field is the world and the good seed are the people ³¹  of the kingdom. The weeds are the people ³²  of the evil one, 13:39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 13:40 As ³³  the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. ³⁴  13:42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, ³⁵  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[13:3]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[13:3]  ² sn Though parables can contain a variety of figures of speech (cf. the remainder of chapter 13), many times they are simply stories that attempt to teach spiritual truth (which is unknown to the hearers) by using a comparison with something known to the hearers. In general, parables usually advance a single idea, though there may be many parts and characters in a single parable and subordinate ideas may expand the main idea further. The beauty of using the parable as a teaching device is that it draws the listener into the story, elicits an evaluation, and demands a response.

[13:3]  ³ tn Grk “Behold.”

[13:3]  ⁴ sn A sower went out to sow. The background for this well-known parable, drawn from a typical scene in the Palestinian countryside, is a field through which a well-worn path runs. Sowing would occur in late fall or early winter (October to December) in the rainy season, looking for sprouting in April or May and a June harvest. The use of seed as a figure for God’s giving life has OT roots (Isa 55:10-11). The point of the parable of the sower is to illustrate the various responses to the message of the kingdom of God.

[13:4]  ⁵ tn In Matthew’s version of this parable, plural pronouns are used to refer to the seed in v. 4 (ἅ…αὐτά [Ja…auta]), although the collective singular is used in v. 5 and following (indicated by the singular verbs like ἔπεσεν [epesen]). For the sake of consistency in English, plural pronouns referring to the seed are used in the translation throughout the Matthean account. In both Mark and Luke the collective singular is used consistently throughout (cf. Mark 4:1-9; Luke 8:4-8).

[13:5]  ⁶ tn Here and in vv. 7 and 8 δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:5]  ⁷ sn The rocky ground in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.

[13:5]  ⁸ tn Grk “it did not have enough depth of earth.”

[13:7]  ⁹ sn Palestinian weeds like these thorns could grow up to six feet in height and have a major root system.

[13:7]  ¹⁰ sn That is, crowded out the good plants.

[13:9]  ¹¹ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15, 13:43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8, 14:35).

[13:19]  ¹² sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

[13:19]  ¹³ sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

[13:20]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one.” The next two statements like this one have this same syntactical structure.

[13:21]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “is temporary.”

[13:21]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:22]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:22]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”

[13:22]  ²⁰ sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.

[13:23]  ²¹ tn The Greek is difficult to translate because it switches from a generic “he” to three people within this generic class (thus, something like: “Who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one instance a hundred times, in another, sixty times, in another, thirty times”).

[13:24]  ²² tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[13:25]  ²³ tn Grk “sowed darnel.” The Greek term ζιζάνιον (zizanion) refers to an especially undesirable weed that looks like wheat but has poisonous seeds (L&N 3.30).

[13:26]  ²⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:27]  ²⁵ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.

[13:28]  ²⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the owner’s statement.

[13:30]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[13:30]  ²⁸ tn Grk “but.”

[13:30]  ²⁹ tn Grk “burned, but gather.”

[13:37]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And answering, he said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:38]  ³¹ tn Grk “the sons of the kingdom.” This idiom refers to people who should properly be, or were traditionally regarded as, a part of God’s kingdom. L&N 11.13 translates the phrase: “people of God’s kingdom, God’s people.”

[13:38]  ³² tn Grk “the sons of the evil one.” See the preceding note on the phrase “people of the kingdom” earlier in this verse, which is the opposite of this phrase. See also L&N 9.4; 11.13; 11.14.

[13:40]  ³³ tn Grk “Therefore as.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[13:41]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the ones who practice lawlessness.”

[13:42]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Dan 3:6.