Bible / Matthew

Matthew 13

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

1 On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.

2 Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.

3 He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow. CCC · Fathers

4 As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them. CCC

5 Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. CCC

6 When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away. CCC

7 Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them. CCC

8 Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. CCC

9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” CCC

10 The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” CCC

11 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. CCC

12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. CCC

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. CCC

14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive; CCC

15 for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again, and I would heal them.’ CCC

16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. CCC

17 For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them. CCC · Fathers

18 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

19 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

20 What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it;

21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22 What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. CCC

23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, CCC

25 but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. CCC · Fathers

26 But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also. CCC

27 The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’ CCC

28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’ CCC · Fathers

29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. CCC

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” 1 CCC · Fathers

31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field,

32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

33 He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, Fathers

35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

36 Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

37 He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

38 the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. Fathers

39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40 As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. Fathers

41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity, CCC · Fathers

42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. CCC · Fathers

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Fathers

44 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. CCC · Fathers

45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls, CCC

46 who having 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 dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind,

48 which, when it was filled, fishermen drew up on the beach. They sat down and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

49 So it will be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” CCC

51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”

52 He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.” CCC · Fathers

53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

54 Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

55 Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? CCC

56 Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?”

57 They were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.”

58 He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Where our lessons quote this chapter

  1. Verse 30: Hard questions and hurts, honestly

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • CCC 1724 “The Decalogue, the Sermon on the Mount, and the apostolic catechesis describe for us the paths that lead to the Kingdom of…”
    • “… yourselves, to be continually solicitous; but I speak all things simply and candidly, as my Lord said: A sower went forth to sow the seed; and some fell by the wayside; and some among thorns, and some on stony ground, and some on good ground.”

      Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter CXXV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  2. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
  3. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
  4. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
  5. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
  6. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
  7. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
  8. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  9. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  10. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  11. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  12. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  13. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  14. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
  15. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 787 “From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them…”
    • “… His words, the Lord has made manifest, when He says to His disciples, "Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “prophets and righteous men have desired to see and hear what ye do see and hear.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  16. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 29 “But this "intimate and vital bond of man to God" (GS 19 # 1) can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected…”
  17. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 827 “Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however,…”
  18. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 827 “Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however,…”
    • “For when men sleep, the enemy sows the material of tares;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter X. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  19. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 827 “Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however,…”
  20. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 827 “Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however,…”
  21. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 827 “Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however,…”
    • “The Lord, indeed, sowed good seed in His own field; and He says, "The field is the world." But while men slept, the enemy came, and "sowed tares in the midst of the wheat, and went his way.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XL. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  22. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 827 “Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however,…”
  23. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 827 “Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however,…”
    • “… mill, to take one and leave the other: [also] at the time of the end, to order the reapers to collect first the tares together, and bind them in bundles, and burn them with unquenchable fire, but to gather up the wheat into the barn;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  24. Read the Fathers
    • “The Lord, indeed, sowed good seed in His own field;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XL. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  25. Read the Fathers
    • “those] of the devil, for whom eternal fire is prepared; and as, again, He declares with regard to the tares, "The tares are the children of the wicked one,”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XLI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “The blessing of Isaac with which he blessed his younger son Jacob has the same meaning, when he says, "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed." But "the field is the world.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  26. Read the Fathers
    • “Then shall the just shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XL. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  27. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 333 “From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When…”
    • CCC 1034 “Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe…”
    • “Then shall the just shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XL. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  28. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 1034 “Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe…”
    • “And every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire.”

      Quoted in First Apology, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 155), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “Then shall the just shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XL. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  29. Read the Fathers
    • “Then shall the just shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XL. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  30. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
    • “For Christ is the treasure which was hid in the field,”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  31. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 546 “Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he…”
  32. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 1034 “Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe…”
  33. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 1117 “As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power…”
    • “… from one and the same God; as also the Lord says to the disciples "Therefore every scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter IX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “… "that Christ must suffer, and enter into His glory, and that remission of sins should be preached in His name throughout all the world." And the disciple will be perfected, and [rendered] like the householder, "who bringeth forth from his treasure things new and old.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  34. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 495 “Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before…”
    • CCC 500 “Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always understood…”