Section XVII.
1 109 And he set forth to them another parable, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 2 110 but when men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 3 111 And when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, there were noticed the tares also. 4 112 And the servants of the master of the house came, and said unto him, Our lord, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence are there tares in it? 5 113 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. His servants said unto him, Wilt thou that we go and separate it? 6 114 He said unto them, Perhaps, when ye separate the tares, ye would root up with them wheat also. 7 116 Leave them to grow both together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say unto the reapers, Separate the tares first, and bind them in bundles to be burned with fire; and gather the wheat into my barns.
8 117 And he set forth to them another parable, and said, 9 118 To what is the kingdom of God like? and to what shall I liken it? 10 119 and in what parable shall I set it forth? 11 120 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and planted in his field: and of the number of the things that are sown in the earth it is smaller than all of the things which are sown, which are upon the earth; 12 121 but when it is grown, it is greater than all the herbs, and produceth large branches, so that the birds of heaven make their nests in its branches.
13 122 And he set forth to them another parable: 14 123 To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 15 124 It is like the leaven which a woman took, and kneaded into three measures of flour, until the whole of it was leavened.
16 125 And Jesus spake all that to the multitudes by way of parables, according as they were able to hear. 17 126 And without parables spake he not unto them; that the saying of the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled:
I will open my mouth in parables;
And I will utter secrets which were before the foundations of the world.
18 128 But he explained to his disciples privately everything.
19 129 Then Jesus left the multitudes, and came to the house. And his disciples came unto him, and said unto him, Explain unto us that parable about the tares and the field. 20 131 He answered and said unto them, He that sowed good seed is the Son of man; 21 132 and the field is the world; and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; 22 133 and the tares are the children of the evil one; and the enemy that sowed them is Satan; and the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 23 135 And as the tares are separated and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. 24 136 The Son of man shall send his angels, and separate from his kingdom all things that injure, 25 137 and all the doers of iniquity, and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire: and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 26 138 Then the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whosoever hath ears that hear, let him hear.
27 139 And again the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hid in a field: that which a man found and hid; and, for his pleasure in it, went and sold all that he had, and bought that field.
28 140 And again the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a merchant seeking excellent pearls; 29 141 and when he found one pearl of great price, he went and sold everything that he had, and bought it.
30 142 And again the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 31 144 and when it was filled, they drew it up on to the shore of the sea, and sat down to select; and the good of them they threw into the vessels, and the bad they threw outside. 32 145 Thus shall it be in the end of the world: the angels shall go forth, 33 146 and separate the wicked from among the good, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
34 147 Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They said unto him, Yea, our Lord. 35 148 He said unto them, Therefore every scribe that becometh a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder, who bringeth out of his treasures the new and the old.
36 149 And when Jesus had finished all these parables, he removed thence, and came to his city; 37 150 and he taught them in their synagogues, so that they were perplexed. 38 151 And when the sabbath came, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue; and many of those that heard marvelled, and said, Whence came these things to this man? 39 152 And many envied him and gave no heed to him, but said, What is this wisdom that is given to this man , that there should happen at his hands such as these mighty works? 40 154 Is not this a carpenter, son of a carpenter? and is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 41 155 And his sisters, all of them, lo, are they not all with us? 42 156 Whence hath this man all these things? And they were in doubt concerning him. And Jesus knew their opinion, and said unto them, Will ye haply" say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal first thyself: and all that we have heard that thou didst in Capernaum, do here also in thine own city? 43 158 And he said, Verily I say unto you, A prophet is not received in his own city, nor among his brethren: 44 159 for a prophet is not despised, save in his own city, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 45 160 Verily I say unto you, In the days of Elijah the prophet, there were many widows among the children of Israel, when the heaven held back three years and six months, 46 161 and there was a great famine in all the land; and Elijah was not sent to one of them, save to Zarephath of Sidon, to a woman that was a widow. 47 162 And many lepers were among the children of Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet; but not one of them was cleansed, save Naaman the Nabathaean. 48 164 And he was not able to do there many mighty works, because of their unbelief; except that he laid his hand upon a few of the sick, and healed them . 49 166 And he marvelled at their lack of faith. 50 167 And when those who were in the synagogue heard, they were all filled with wrath; and they rose up, 51 168 and brought him forth outside the city, and brought him to the brow of the hill upon which their city was built, that they might cast him from its summit: 52 169 but he passed through among them and went away.
53 170 And he went about in the villages which were around Nazareth, and taught in their synagogues.