1 That day, leaving the house, Jesus had sat down by the sea-shore, 2 and great multitudes gathered about him, so that he went on board a ship and sat there instead, while the whole multitude remained standing on the beach. 3 And he spoke to them long, in parables; Here, he began, is the sower gone out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, there were grains that fell beside the path, so that all the birds came and ate them up. 5 And others fell on rocky land, where the soil was shallow; they sprang up all at once, because they had not sunk deep in the ground; 6 but as soon as the sun rose they were parched; they had taken no root, and so they withered away. 7 Some fell among briers, so that the briers grew up, and smothered them. 8 But others fell where the soil was good, and these yielded a harvest, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
1 In illo die exiens Jesus de domo, sedebat secus mare. 2 Et congregatæ sunt ad eum turbæ multæ, ita ut naviculam ascendens sederet: et omnis turba stabat in littore, 3 et locutus est eis multa in parabolis, dicens: Ecce exiit qui seminat, seminare. 4 Et dum seminat, quædam ceciderunt secus viam, et venerunt volucres cæli, et comederunt ea. 5 Alia autem ceciderunt in petrosa, ubi non habebant terram multam: et continuo exorta sunt, quia non habebant altitudinem terræ: 6 sole autem orto æstuaverunt; et quia non habebant radicem, aruerunt. 7 Alia autem ceciderunt in spinas: et creverunt spinæ, et suffocaverunt ea. 8 Alia autem ceciderunt in terram bonam: et dabant fructum, aliud centesimum, aliud sexagesimum, aliud trigesimum. 9 Qui habet aures audiendi, audiat.
10 And his disciples came to him, and said, Why dost thou speak to them in parables? 11 Because, he answered, it is granted to you to understand the secrets of God’s kingdom, but not to these others. 12 If a man is rich, gifts will be made to him, and his riches will abound; if he is poor, even the little he has will be taken from him. 13 And if I talk to them in parables, it is because, though they have eyes, they cannot see, and though they have ears, they cannot hear or understand. 14 Indeed, in them the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled, You will listen and listen, but for you there is no understanding; you will watch and watch, but for you there is no perceiving. 15 The heart of this people has become dull, their ears are slow to listen, and they keep their eyes shut, so that they may never see with those eyes, or hear with those ears, or understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing from me.[1]
10 Et accedentes discipuli dixerunt ei: Quare in parabolis loqueris eis? 11 Qui respondens, ait illis: Quia vobis datum est nosse mysteria regni cælorum: illis autem non est datum. 12 Qui enim habet, dabitur ei, et abundabit: qui autem non habet, et quod habet auferetur ab eo. 13 Ideo in parabolis loquor eis: quia videntes non vident, et audientes non audiunt, neque intelligunt. 14 Et adimpletur in eis prophetia Isaiæ, dicentis:Auditu audietis, et non intelligetis:et videntes videbitis, et non videbitis. 15 Incrassatum est enim cor populi hujus,et auribus graviter audierunt,et oculos suos clauserunt:nequando videant oculis, et auribus audiant,et corde intelligant, et convertantur,et sanem eos.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they have sight; blessed are your ears, for they have hearing. 17 And, believe me, there have been many prophets and just men who have longed to see what you see, and never saw it, to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
16 Vestri autem beati oculi quia vident, et aures vestræ quia audiunt. 17 Amen quippe dico vobis, quia multi prophetæ et justi cupierunt videre quæ videtis, et non viderunt: et audire quæ auditis, et non audierunt.
18 The parable of the sower, then, is for your hearing. 19 Wherever a man hears the word by which the kingdom is preached, but does not grasp it, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart; his was the wayside sowing. 20 The man who took in the seed in rocky ground is the man who hears the word and at once entertains it gladly; 21 but there is no root in him, and he does not last long; no sooner does tribulation or persecution arise over the word, than his faith is shaken. 22 And the man who took in the seed in the midst of briers is the man who hears the word, but allows the cares of this world and the false charms of riches to stifle it, so that it remains fruitless. 23 Whereas the man who took in the seed in good soil is the man who both hears and grasps it; such men are fruitful, one grain yielding a hundredfold, one sixtyfold, one thirtyfold.[2]
18 Vos ergo audite parabolam seminantis. 19 Omnis qui audit verbum regni, et non intelligit, venit malus, et rapit quod seminatum est in corde ejus: hic est qui secus viam seminatus est. 20 Qui autem super petrosa seminatus est, hic est qui verbum audit, et continuo cum gaudio accipit illud: 21 non habet autem in se radicem, sed est temporalis: facta autem tribulatione et persecutione propter verbum, continuo scandalizatur. 22 Qui autem seminatus est in spinis, hic est qui verbum audit, et sollicitudo sæculi istius, et fallacia divitiarum suffocat verbum, et sine fructu efficitur. 23 Qui vero in terram bonam seminatus est, hic est qui audit verbum, et intelligit, et fructum affert, et facit aliud quidem centesimum, aliud autem sexagesimum, aliud vero trigesimum.
24 And he put before them another parable; Here is an image, he said, of the kingdom of heaven. There was a man who sowed his field with clean seed; 25 but while all the world was asleep, an enemy of his came and scattered tares among the wheat, and was gone. 26 So, when the blade had sprung up and come into ear, the tares, too, came to light; 27 and the farmer’s men went to him and said, Sir, was it not clean seed thou didst sow in thy field? How comes it, then, that there are tares in it? 28 He said, An enemy has done it. And his men asked him, Wouldst thou then have us go and gather them up? 29 But he said, No; or perhaps while you are gathering the tares you will root up the wheat with them. 30 Leave them to grow side by side till harvest, and when harvest-time comes I will give the word to the reapers, Gather up the tares first, and tie them in bundles to be burned, and store the wheat in my barn.
24 Aliam parabolam proposuit illis, dicens: Simile factum est regnum cælorum homini, qui seminavit bonum semen in agro suo: 25 cum autem dormirent homines, venit inimicus ejus, et superseminavit zizania in medio tritici, et abiit. 26 Cum autem crevisset herba, et fructum fecisset, tunc apparuerunt et zizania. 27 Accedentes autem servi patrisfamilias, dixerunt ei: Domine, nonne bonum semen seminasti in agro tuo? unde ergo habet zizania? 28 Et ait illis: Inimicus homo hoc fecit. Servi autem dixerunt ei: Vis, imus, et colligimus ea? 29 Et ait: Non: ne forte colligentes zizania, eradicetis simul cum eis et triticum. 30 Sinite utraque crescere usque ad messem, et in tempore messis dicam messoribus: Colligite primum zizania, et alligate ea in fasciculos ad comburendum: triticum autem congregate in horreum meum.
31 Then he put before them another parable. The kingdom of heaven, he said, is like a grain of mustard seed, that a man has taken and sowed in his ground; 32 of all seeds, none is so little, but when it grows up it is greater than any garden herb; it grows into a tree, so that all the birds come and settle in its branches.[3] 33 And he told them still another parable, The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, that a woman has taken and buried away in three measures of meal, enough to leaven the whole batch. 34 All this Jesus said to the multitude in parables, and would say it in parables only, 35 so fulfilling the words which were spoken by the prophet, I will speak my mind in parables, I will give utterance to things which have been kept secret from the beginning of the world.[4]
31 Aliam parabolam proposuit eis dicens: Simile est regnum cælorum grano sinapis, quod accipiens homo seminavit in agro suo: 32 quod minimum quidem est omnibus seminibus: cum autem creverit, majus est omnibus oleribus, et fit arbor, ita ut volucres cæli veniant, et habitent in ramis ejus. 33 Aliam parabolam locutus est eis: Simile est regnum cælorum fermento, quod acceptum mulier abscondit in farinæ satis tribus, donec fermentatum est totum. 34 Hæc omnia locutus est Jesus in parabolis ad turbas: et sine parabolis non loquebatur eis: 35 ut impleretur quod dictum erat per prophetam dicentem: Aperiam in parabolis os meum; eructabo abscondita a constitutione mundi.
36 Then he sent the multitude away, and went back into the house. There his disciples came to him, and said, Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field. 37 He answered, It is the Son of Man that sows the good seed. 38 The field is the world, and the sons of the kingdom are the good seed; the sons of the wicked one are the tares. 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil, and the end of the world is the harvest; it is reaped by the angels. 40 The tares were gathered together and burned in the fire, and so it will be when the world is brought to an end; 41 the Son of Man will give charge to his angels, and they will gather up all that gives offence in his kingdom, all those who do wickedly in it, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then, at last, the just will shine out, clear as the sun, in their Father’s kingdom.[5] Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
36 Tunc, dimissis turbis, venit in domum: et accesserunt ad eum discipuli ejus, dicentes: Edissere nobis parabolam zizaniorum agri. 37 Qui respondens ait illis: Qui seminat bonum semen, est Filius hominis. 38 Ager autem est mundus. Bonum vero semen, hi sunt filii regnum. Zizania autem, filii sunt nequam. 39 Inimicus autem, qui seminavit ea, est diabolus. Messis vero, consummatio sæculi est. Messores autem, angeli sunt. 40 Sicut ergo colliguntur zizania, et igni comburuntur: sic erit in consummatione sæculi. 41 Mittet Filius hominis angelos suos, et colligent de regno ejus omnia scandala, et eos qui faciunt iniquitatem: 42 et mittent eos in caminum ignis. Ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium. 43 Tunc justi fulgebunt sicut sol in regno Patris eorum. Qui habet aures audiendi, audiat.
44 The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field; a man has found it and hidden it again, and now, for the joy it gives him, is going home to sell all that he has and buy that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is as if a trader were looking for rare pearls: 46 and now he has found one pearl of great cost, and has sold all that he had and bought it. 47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and enclosed fish of every kind at once; 48 when it was full, the fishermen drew it up, and sat down on the beach, where they stored all that was worth keeping in their buckets, and threw the useless kind away. 49 So it will be when the world is brought to an end; the angels will go out and separate the wicked from the just, 50 and will cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth. 51 Have you grasped all this? Yes, Lord, they said to him. 52 And he said to them, Every scholar, then, whose learning is of the kingdom of heaven must be like a rich man, who knows how to bring both new and old things out of his treasure-house.[6]
44 Simile est regnum cælorum thesauro abscondito in agro: quem qui invenit homo, abscondit, et præ gaudio illius vadit, et vendit universa quæ habet, et emit agrum illum. 45 Iterum simile est regnum cælorum homini negotiatori, quærenti bonas margaritas. 46 Inventa autem una pretiosa margarita, abiit, et vendidit omnia quæ habuit, et emit eam. 47 Iterum simile est regnum cælorum sagenæ missæ in mare, et ex omni genere piscium congreganti. 48 Quam, cum impleta esset, educentes, et secus littus sedentes, elegerunt bonis in vasa, malos autem foras miserunt. 49 Sic erit in consummatione sæculi: exibunt angeli, et separabunt malos de medio justorum, 50 et mittent eos in caminum ignis: ibi erit fletus, et stridor dentium. 51 Intellexistis hæc omnia? Dicunt ei: Etiam. 52 Ait illis: Ideo omnis scriba doctus in regno cælorum, similis est homini patrifamilias, qui profert de thesauro suo nova et vetera.
53 Afterwards, when he had finished these parables, Jesus journeyed on, 54 and came to his own country-side, where he taught them in their synagogue; so that they said in astonishment, How did he come by this wisdom, and these strange powers? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son, whose mother is called Mary, and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And do not his sisters, all of them, live near us? How is it that all this has come to him? 57 And they had no confidence in him. But Jesus told them, It is only in his own country, in his own home, that a prophet goes unhonoured. 58 Nor did he do many miracles there, because of their unbelief.[7]
53 Et factum est, cum consummasset Jesus parabolas istas, transiit inde. 54 Et veniens in patriam suam, docebat eos in synagogis eorum, ita ut mirarentur, et dicerent: Unde huic sapientia hæc, et virtutes? 55 Nonne hic est fabri filius? nonne mater ejus dicitur Maria, et fratres ejus, Jacobus, et Joseph, et Simon, et Judas? 56 et sorores ejus, nonne omnes apud nos sunt? unde ergo huic omnia ista? 57 Et scandalizabantur in eo. Jesus autem dixit eis: Non est propheta sine honore, nisi in patria sua, et in domo sua. 58 Et non fecit ibi virtutes multas propter incredulitatem illorum.
[1] vv. 14, 15: Is. 6.9. Our Lord seems to tone down the language of this prophecy, perhaps for fear it might seem that the failure of the Jews to grasp his message was due to some arbitrary decree of heaven, not to their own fault.
[2] vv. 1-23: Mk. 4.1; Lk. 8.4.
[3] Cf. Mk. 4.30; Lk. 13.18.
[4] Ps. 77.2.
[5] Wis. 3.7.
[6] Perhaps in the sense that he must learn, on the principles laid down in the foregoing parables, the difference between the old Church of the Jews and the new Church of Christ.