1 On that day Jesus left the house and sat down by the sea.
2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he stepped into the boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
3 Then he told them many things in parables: "Look, the sower went out to sow.
4 While he was sowing, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
5 Some fell on rocky places where there was not much earth, and they shot up quickly because the earth was not deep.
6 But once the sun came up they were burned, and because they had no root they dried up.
7 Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and smothered them.
8 And others fell on the good ground and gave a crop, one a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty.
9 Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
10 The disciples came and asked him, "Why do you talk to them in parables?"
11 He answered them, "Because you have been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not been granted it.
12 For whoever has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
13 That is why I talk to them in parables: because though they look, they do not see, and though they listen, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'You will keep on hearing but will by no means understand; you will keep on seeing but will by no means perceive.
15 For the heart of this people has become thick, and they hear heavily with their ears, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn back, and I would heal them.'
16 But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear.
17 For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men longed to see the things you are seeing and did not see them, and to hear the things you are hearing and did not hear them.
18 You, then, listen to the parable of the sower.
19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not grasp it, the evil one comes and seizes what was sown in his heart; this is the one sown beside the road.
20 The one sown on the rocky places is the person who hears the word and at once accepts it gladly;
21 but he has no root in himself and lasts only for a time; when affliction or persecution comes because of the word, he stumbles at once.
22 The one sown among the thorns is the person who hears the word, but the worry of this age and the deceit of wealth smother the word, and it becomes fruitless.
23 And the one sown on the good ground is the person who hears the word and grasps it; he is the one who bears fruit and produces, one a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty."
24 He set another parable before them: "The kingdom of heaven has become like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed darnel among the wheat, and went off.
26 When the blades sprang up and formed heads of grain, the darnel showed up as well.
27 The householder's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? So where did the darnel come from?'
28 He told them, 'A man who is an enemy did this.' The servants asked him, 'Do you want us, then, to go out and collect it?'
29 But he said, 'No, or while you collect the darnel you may uproot the wheat along with it.
30 Leave both to grow side by side until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, "First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles for burning, but bring the wheat together into my storehouse."'"
31 He set another parable before them: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.
32 It is indeed the smallest of all the seeds, but once it has grown, it is bigger than the garden plants and turns into a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and settle in its branches."
33 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and concealed in three measures of flour until the whole of it was leavened."
34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and apart from a parable he would tell them nothing,
35 so that the word spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will pour out things kept hidden since the foundation of the world."
36 Then, dismissing the crowds, Jesus went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Make clear to us the parable of the darnel in the field."
37 He answered them, "The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world. As for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the darnel is the sons of the evil one.
39 The enemy who sowed it is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age; and the reapers are angels.
40 So just as the darnel is collected and burned up with fire, so it will be at the close of this age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will collect from his kingdom everything that causes stumbling and those who do lawlessness,
42 and will hurl them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
43 At that time the righteous will blaze out like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in the field, which a man found and kept hidden; and out of joy over it he goes away, sells everything he has, and buys that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
46 When he found a single pearl of great price, he went away, sold everything he had, and bought it.
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brought in fish of every sort.
48 Once it was full, they hauled it up onto the beach, sat down, and collected the good ones in baskets, but threw the worthless ones out.
49 That is how it will be at the close of the age: the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous
50 and will hurl them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and grinding of teeth."
51 Jesus asked them, "Have you grasped all these things?" They answered him, "Yes, Lord."
52 So he said to them, "For this reason every scribe who has been made a disciple for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things new and old."
53 And it happened that when Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.
54 He came into his own hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were amazed and said, "Where does this man's wisdom come from, and these miracles?
55 Is this not the son of the carpenter? Is his mother not named Mary, and his brothers James and Joses and Simon and Judas?
56 And are not his sisters all here with us? So where did this man get all this?"
57 And they stumbled over him. But Jesus told them, "Nowhere is a prophet without honor except in his own hometown and in his own house."
58 And he did not perform many miracles there because of their unbelief.