Matthew 13:3
New International Version
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.

New Living Translation
He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds.

English Standard Version
And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.

Berean Standard Bible
And He told them many things in parables, saying, “A farmer went out to sow his seed.

Berean Literal Bible
And He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, "Behold, the one sowing went out to sow.

King James Bible
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

New King James Version
Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.

New American Standard Bible
And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

NASB 1995
And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

NASB 1977
And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

Legacy Standard Bible
And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

Amplified Bible
He told them many things in parables, saying, “Listen carefully: a sower went out to sow [seed in his field];

Christian Standard Bible
Then he told them many things in parables, saying, “Consider the sower who went out to sow.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then He told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow.

American Standard Version
And he spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And he was speaking much with them in parables and he said, “Behold, a sower went out to sow.

Contemporary English Version
Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said: A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying: Behold the sower went forth to sow.

English Revised Version
And he spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Then he used stories as illustrations to tell them many things. He said, "Listen! A farmer went to plant seed.

Good News Translation
He used parables to tell them many things. "Once there was a man who went out to sow grain.

International Standard Version
Then he began to tell them many things in parables. He said, "Listen! A farmer went out to sow.

Literal Standard Version
and He spoke to them many things in allegories, saying, “Behold, the sower went forth to sow,

Majority Standard Bible
And He told them many things in parables, saying, “A farmer went out to sow his seed.

New American Bible
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.

NET Bible
He told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow.

New Revised Standard Version
And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.

New Heart English Bible
And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying, "Look, a farmer went out to sow.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

Weymouth New Testament
He then spoke many things to them in figurative language. "The sower goes out," He said, "to sow.

World English Bible
He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

Young's Literal Translation
and he spake to them many things in similes, saying: 'Lo, the sower went forth to sow,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Parable of the Sower
2Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore. 3And He told them many things in parables, saying, “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.…

Cross References
Matthew 13:4
And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Matthew 13:10
Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Why do You speak to the people in parables?"

Mark 3:23
So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?

Mark 4:2
And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said,

Mark 12:1
Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.


Treasury of Scripture

And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

in.

Matthew 13:10-13,34,35,53
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? …

Matthew 22:1
And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

Matthew 24:32
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

parables.

a sower.

Mark 4:2-9
And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, …

Luke 8:5-8
A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it…

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Earth Farmer Figurative Form Forth Goes Language Parables Seed Similes Sow Sower Story Teaching
Matthew 13
1. The parable of the sower and the seed;
18. the explanation of it.
24. The parable of the weeds;
31. of the mustard seed;
33. of the leaven;
36. explanation of the parable of the weeds.
44. The parable of the hidden treasure;
45. of the pearl;
47. of the drag net cast into the sea.
53. Jesus is a prophet without honor in his own country.














(3) He spake many things unto them in parables.--This is the first occurrence of the word in St. Matthew's Gospel, and it is clear from the question of the disciples in Matthew 13:10 that it was in some sense a new form of teaching to them. There had been illustrations and similitudes before, as in that of the houses built on the sand and on the rock in Matthew 7:24-27, and that of the unclean spirit in Matthew 12:43-45, but now for the first time He speaks to the multitude in a parable, without an explanation. The word, which has passed through its use in the Gospels into most modern European languages (palabras, parole, parabel), means literally, a comparison. It had been employed by the Greek translators of the Old Testament for the Hebrew word mashed, which we commonly render by "proverb," and which, like the Greek parabole, has the sense of similitude. Of many, perhaps of most, Eastern proverbs it was true that they were condensed parables, just as many parables are expanded proverbs. (Comp. John 16:25; John 16:29.) In the later and New Testament use of the word, however, the parable takes the fuller form of a narrative embracing facts natural and probable in themselves, and in this respect differs from the fable which (as in those of 'sop and Phaedrus, or that of the trees choosing a king in Judges 9:8-15) does not keep within the limits even of possibility. The mode of teaching by parables was familiar enough in the schools of the Rabbis, and the Talmud contains many of great beauty and interest. As used by them, however, they were regarded as belonging to those who were receiving a higher education, and the son of Sirach was expressing the current feeling of the schools when he said of the tillers of the soil and the herdsmen of flocks that they "were not found where parables were spoken" (Ecclesiasticus 38:33). With what purpose our Lord now used this mode of instruction will appear in His answer to the question of the disciples. The prominence given in the first three Gospels to the parable that follows, shows how deep an impression it made on the minds of men, and so far justified the choice of this method of teaching by the divine Master. . . . Verse 3. - And he spake many things. Of which but a few are here recorded (cf. vers. 34, 51). Unto them in parables. Taking the expression in the widest sense, "speaking in parables" began in the very earliest ages, when natural or spiritual truths were described under figures taken from everyday life, and continues until the present time, more especially among Eastern nations. Interesting examples of such a method of instruction are to be seen in the Haggadoth (which are frequently parabolic narratives) of the Talmuds and other Jewish works. But both myth (cf. Alford) and parabolic Haggada share the common danger of being misunderstood as narratives which are intended to be taken literally, while in the parable, in the narrower sense of the word, such a confusion is hardly possible. For the narrative then suggests, either by its introduction or its structure, that it is only the mirror by which a truth can be seen, and is not the truth itself. Such parables also, though seldom even approaching in beauty to our Lord's, are very frequent in Jewish writings, though they come but seldom in the Old Testament (Isaiah 28:23-29; 2 Samuel 12:1-6; 2 Samuel 14:6-11; 1 Kings 20:35-40; comp. also Isaiah 5:1-7 and Ezekiel 17:1-10, which are rather allegories; and Judges 9:7-15 and 2 Kings 14:9, which are fables). (On the distinction of parable in the narrower sense from fable, myth, proverb, allegory, see Alford and Trench.) Weiss ('Life,' 2:115) thinks that the most profound reason of all which the Lord had for employing parables was that he wished to show that the same regulations which hold good for the world round us and ourselves in relation to the world and each other, hold good also in the higher ethical and religious life. But at the most this can have been a very subsidiary motive with him. Saying, Behold, a sower. Observe that our Lord enters upon his parable at once (contrast ver. 24). He will attract attention. Mark's "Hear ye" would have forwarded this. A sower; literally, the sower, as the Revised Version; i.e. the sower of whom I am about to speak (cf. Driver on 1 Samuel 19:13; also Matthew 1:23; Matthew 12:43). Went forth. In the Greek this verb comes first, as though our Lord wished to call attention, not so much to the sower himself as to his action. To sow. (For the minute adherence to actual life throughout the whole of this parable, see by all means Thomson's 'Land and the Book,' p. 82, edit. 1887; Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 425, sqq., edit. 1868.)

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
And
Καὶ (Kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

He told
ἐλάλησεν (elalēsen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2980: A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. Utter words.

them
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

many things
πολλὰ (polla)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 4183: Much, many; often.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

parables,
παραβολαῖς (parabolais)
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3850: From paraballo; a similitude, i.e. fictitious narrative, apothegm or adage.

saying,
λέγων (legōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3004: (a) I say, speak; I mean, mention, tell, (b) I call, name, especially in the pass., (c) I tell, command.

“A farmer
σπείρων (speirōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4687: To sow, spread, scatter. Probably strengthened from spao; to scatter, i.e. Sow.

went out
ἐξῆλθεν (exēlthen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1831: To go out, come out. From ek and erchomai; to issue.

to sow his seed.
σπείρειν (speirein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 4687: To sow, spread, scatter. Probably strengthened from spao; to scatter, i.e. Sow.


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