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¹ And on that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the side of the sea.² And great multitudes assembled around him; so that he embarked and seated himself in a ship, and all the multitude stood on the shore of the sea.³ An he discoursed with them much, by similitudes. And he said, Behold, a sower went forth to sow.⁴ And as he sowed, some [fn] fell upon the side of a path: and a bird came and devoured it. ⁵ And other [fn] fell upon a rock, so that it had not much soil: and it sprung up forthwith, because there was no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up it wilted. And, because it lacked root, it dried up.⁷ And other [fn] fell among thorns: and the thorns shot up, and choked it. ⁸ And other [fn] fell on good ground; and bore fruits, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. ⁹ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.¹⁰ And his disciples came and said to him, Why discoursest thou to them in similitudes?¹¹ And he answered, and said to 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 to him that hath, shall be given; and he shall abound: but from him that hath not, even what he hath shall be taken from him.¹³ For this cause I discourse to them in similitudes, because they see and do not see, and they hear and do not hear, nor understand.¹⁴ And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, who said: By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and by seeing ye see, and shall not know:¹⁵ For the heart of this people hath grown fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and should hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should turn; and I should heal them.¹⁶ But happy are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.¹⁷ For verily I say to you, That many prophets and righteous [fn] longed to see what ye see, and did not see [fn] ; and to hear what ye hear, and did not hear [fn] . ¹⁸ But hear ye the similitude of the seed.¹⁹ Every one that heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, the evil one cometh and snatcheth away the seed sowed in his heart: this is what was sowed by the side of the path.²⁰ And that which was sowed on the rock, is he that heareth the word, and at once receiveth it with joy.²¹ Yet hath he no root in him, but is of short duration, and when there is trouble or persecution on account of the word, he soon stumbleth.²² And that which was sowed among thorns, is he that heareth the word; and care for this world and the deceptiveness of riches, choke the word; and he is without fruits.²³ But that which was sowed on good ground, is he that heareth my word, and understandeth. and beareth fruits, and yieldeth, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.

²⁴ Another similitude he proposed to them, and said: The kingdom of heaven is like to a man who sowed good seed in his field.²⁵ And while people were asleep, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.²⁶ And when the plant shot up and bore fruits, then appeared also the tares.²⁷ And the servants of the householder came, and said to him, Our lord, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From whence are the tares in it.²⁸ And he said to them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said to him, Is it thy pleasure that we go and gather them out?²⁹ And he said to them, [fn] lest, while ye gather out the tares, ye also eradicate the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather out first the tares, and bind them in bundles to be burned; but the wheat gather ye into my granary.³¹ Another similitude proposed he to them, and said: The kingdom of heaven is like to a kernel of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.³² And this is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is greater than all the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that a bird of heaven may come and nestle in its branches.³³ Another similitude spake he to them, The kingdom of heaven is like the leaven, which a woman took and buried in three measures of meal, until the whole fermented.³⁴ All these things Jesus discoursed to the multitude in similitudes; and without similitudes he did not discourse with them.³⁵ That so might be fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet, who said: I will open my mouth in similitudes; I will utter things concealed from before the foundation of the world.³⁶ Then Jesus sent away the multitudes, and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, and said: Explain to us the similitude of the tares and the field.³⁷ And he answered, and said to them: He that soweth the good seed, is the Son of God.³⁸ And the field is the world. And the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked One.³⁹ The enemy that sowed them, is Satan. The harvest is the end of the world: and the reapers are the angels.⁴⁰ As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so will it be in the end of the world.⁴¹ The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all the stumbling blocks, and all the doers of evil;⁴² and will cast them into a furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.⁴³ Then will the righteous shine 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 that is hid in a field; which when a man findeth, he concealeth it, and, from his joy, he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.⁴⁵ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchantman, who sought after rich pearls:⁴⁶ and when he found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.⁴⁷ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a sweep net, which was cast into the sea, and collected [fn] of every kind. ⁴⁸ And when it was full, they drew it to the shores of the sea; and they sat down and culled over: and the good they put into vessels, and the bad they cast away.⁴⁹ So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will go forth, and will sever the wicked from among the just;⁵⁰ and will cast them into a furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.⁵¹ Jesus said to them: Have ye understood all these things? They say to him: Yes, our Lord.⁵² He said to them: Therefore every Scribe who is instructed for the kingdom of heaven, is like a man who is master of a house, who bringeth forth from his treasures things new and old.

⁵³ And it was so, that when Jesus had ended these similitudes, he departed thence.⁵⁴ And he entered into his own city. And he taught them in their synagogues, in such manner that they wondered, and said: Whence hath he this wisdom and [fn] works of power? ⁵⁵ Is not this man the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joses and Simon and Judas?⁵⁶ And all his sisters, are they not with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?⁵⁷ And they were stumbled at him. But Jesus said to them: There is no prophet who is little, except in his own city and in his own house.⁵⁸ And he did not perform there many works of power, because of their unbelief.