Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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The Parable of the Sower
(Mark 4.1–9; Luke 8.4–8)
1 That same day Jesus left the
house and went to the lakeside,
where he sat down to teach.
2 The crowd that gathered around
him was so large that he got into a
boat and sat in it, while the crowd
stood on the shore. note
3 He used parables
to tell them many things.
3 “Once there was a man who went
out to sow grain.
4 As he scattered
the seed in the field, some of it fell
along the path, and the birds came
and ate it up.
5 Some of it fell on
rocky ground, where there was little
soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because
the soil wasn't deep.
6 But
when the sun came up, it burned the
young plants; and because the roots
had not grown deep enough, the
plants soon dried up.
7 Some of the
seed fell among thorn bushes, which
grew up and choked the plants.
8 But
some seeds fell in good soil, and the
plants bore grain: some had one
hundred grains, others sixty, and
others thirty.”
9 And Jesus concluded, “Listen,
then, if you have ears!”
The Purpose of the Parables
(Mark 4.10–12; Luke 8.9–10)
10 Then the disciples came to Jesus
and asked him, “Why do you use
parables when you talk to the people?”
11 Jesus answered, “The knowledge
about the secrets of the Kingdom
of heaven has been given to
you, but not to them.
12 For the person
who has something will be given
more, so that he will have more than
enough; but the person who has
nothing will have taken away from
him even the little he has. note
13 The reason
I use parables in talking to them
is that they look, but do not see, and
they listen, but do not hear or understand.
14 So the prophecy of Isaiah
applies to them:
‘This people will listen and listen, but not understand;
they will look and look, but not see,
15
because their minds are dull,
and they have stopped up their ears
and have closed their eyes.
-- --
Otherwise, their eyes would see,
their ears would hear,
their minds would understand,
and they would turn to me, says God,
and I would heal them.’ note
16 “As for you, how fortunate you
are! Your eyes see and your ears
hear.
17 I assure you that many
prophets and many of God's people
wanted very much to see what you
see, but they could not, and to hear
what you hear, but they did not. note
Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower
(Mark 4.13–20; Luke 8.11–15)
18 “Listen, then, and learn what the
parable of the sower means.
19 Those
who hear the message about the
Kingdom but do not understand it
are like the seeds that fell along the
path. The Evil One comes and
snatches away what was sown in
them.
20 The seeds that fell on rocky
ground stand for those who receive
the message gladly as soon as they
hear it.
21 But it does not sink deep
into them, and they don't last long.
So when trouble or persecution
comes because of the message, they
give up at once.
22 The seeds that fell
among thorn bushes stand for those
who hear the message; but the worries
about this life and the love for
riches choke the message, and they
don't bear fruit.
23 And the seeds
sown in the good soil stand for those
who hear the message and understand
it: they bear fruit, some as
much as one hundred, others sixty,
and others thirty.”
The Parable of the Weeds
24 Jesus told them another parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like this.
A man sowed good seed in his field.
25 One night, when everyone was
asleep, an enemy came and sowed
weeds among the wheat and went
away.
26 When the plants grew and
the heads of grain began to form,
then the weeds showed up.
27 The
man's servants came to him and
said, ‘Sir, it was good seed you
sowed in your field; where did the
weeds come from?’
28 ‘It was some
enemy who did this,’ he answered.
‘Do you want us to go and pull up
the weeds?’ they asked him.
29 ‘No,’
he answered, ‘because as you gather
the weeds you might pull up some of
the wheat along with them.
30 Let the
wheat and the weeds both grow together
until harvest. Then I will tell
the harvest workers to pull up the
weeds first, tie them in bundles and
burn them, and then to gather in the
wheat and put it in my barn.’”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
(Mark 4.30–32; Luke 13.18–19)
31 Jesus told them another parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like this.
A man takes a mustard seed and
sows it in his field.
32 It is the smallest
of all seeds, but when it grows
up, it is the biggest of all plants. It
becomes a tree, so that birds come
and make their nests in its
branches.”
The Parable of the Yeast
(Luke 13.20–21)
33 Jesus told them still another parable:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like
this. A woman takes some yeast and
mixes it with a bushel of flour until
the whole batch of dough rises.”
Jesus' Use of Parables
(Mark 4.33–34)
34 Jesus used parables to tell all
these things to the crowds; he would
not say a thing to them without
using a parable.
35 He did this to
make come true what the prophet
had said,
“I will use parables when I speak to them;
I will tell them things unknown since the creation of the world.” note
Jesus Explains the Parable of
the Weeds
36 When Jesus had left the crowd
and gone indoors, his disciples came
-- --
to him and said, “Tell us what the
parable about the weeds in the field
means.”
37 Jesus answered, “The man who
sowed the good seed is the Son of
Man;
38 the field is the world; the
good seed is the people who belong
to the Kingdom; the weeds are the
people who belong to the Evil One;
39 and the enemy who sowed the
weeds is the Devil. The harvest is
the end of the age, and the harvest
workers are angels.
40 Just as the
weeds are gathered up and burned
in the fire, so the same thing will
happen at the end of the age:
41 the
Son of Man will send out his angels
to gather up out of his Kingdom all
those who cause people to sin and
all others who do evil things,
42 and
they will throw them into the fiery
furnace, where they will cry and
gnash their teeth.
43 Then God's people
will shine like the sun in their Father's
Kingdom. Listen, then, if you
have ears! note
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
44 “The Kingdom of heaven is like
this. A man happens to find a treasure
hidden in a field. He covers it up
again, and is so happy that he goes
and sells everything he has, and then
goes back and buys that field.
The Parable of the Pearl
45 “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is
like this. A man is looking for fine
pearls,
46 and when he finds one that
is unusually fine, he goes and sells
everything he has, and buys that
pearl.
The Parable of the Net
47 “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is
like this. Some fishermen throw
their net out in the lake and catch all
kinds of fish.
48 When the net is full,
they pull it to shore and sit down to
divide the fish: the good ones go into
the buckets, the worthless ones are
thrown away.
49 It will be like this at
the end of the age: the angels will go
out and gather up the evil people
from among the good
50 and will
throw them into the fiery furnace,
where they will cry and gnash their
teeth.
New Truths and Old
51 “Do you understand these
things?” Jesus asked them.
51 “Yes,” they answered.
52 So he replied, “This means, then,
that every teacher of the Law who
becomes a disciple in the Kingdom
of heaven is like a homeowner who
takes new and old things out of his
storage room.”
Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth
(Mark 6.1–6; Luke 4.16–30)
53 When Jesus finished telling
these parables, he left that place
54 and went back to his home town.
He taught in the synagogue, and
those who heard him were amazed.
“Where did he get such wisdom?”
they asked. “And what about his
miracles?
55 Isn't he the carpenter's
son? Isn't Mary his mother, and
aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas
his brothers?
56 Aren't all his sisters
living here? Where did he get all
this?”
57 And so they rejected him.
57 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is
respected everywhere except in his
home town and by his own family.” note
58 Because they did not have faith, he
did not perform many miracles
there.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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