Matthew / The Parable of the Sower and Its Interpretation

The Parable of the Sower and Its Interpretation

Matthew 13:1-23

Chapter 13

¹ That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ² And great crowds gathered to him, so that he got into a boat and sat there, while all the crowd stood on the shore. ³ And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Behold, the sower went out to sow." ⁴ And as he was sowing, some fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ but some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up immediately, since it did not have depth of soil; ⁶ But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered. ⁷ but others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ but others fell on the good ground and bore fruit, this one a hundred, this one sixty, this one thirty. ⁹ The one who has ears, let him hear. ¹⁰ The disciples approached him and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" ¹¹ But he answered and said to them: "Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to those it has not been given." ¹² For whoever has, it will be given to him and he will abound; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear nor understand. ¹⁴ And the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled in them, which says: "You will hear and hear, but by no means understand; and you will see and see, but by no means see." ¹⁵ For the heart of this people has become fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and they have shut their eyes, lest they ever see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn back, and I will heal them. ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ Amen, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. ¹⁸ You therefore hear the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart—this is the one sown beside the way. ²⁰ But the one sown on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹ but it has no root in itself, but is temporary. But when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, it immediately falls away. ²² But the one sown among the thorns—this is the one who hears the word, and the cares of this age and the deceit of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²³ But the one sown on the good ground—this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces—on the one hand a hundredfold, on the other sixty, on the other thirty.