131 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea . 2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down , and the whole crowd was standing on the beach . 3 And He spoke many things to them in parables , saying , "Behold , the sower went out to sow ; 4 and as he sowed , some seeds fell beside the road , and the birds came and ate them up. 5 "Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil ; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil . 6 "But when the sun had risen , they were scorched ; and because they had no root , they withered away . 7 "Others fell among the thorns , and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 "And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop , some a hundredfold , some sixty , and some thirty . 9 " He who has ears , let him hear ."
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why e do You speak to them in parables ?" 11 Jesus answered them, " To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven , but to them it has not been granted . 12 " For whoever has , to him more shall be given , and he will have an abundance ; but whoever does not have , even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 "Therefore e I speak to them in parables ; because while seeing they do not see , and while hearing they do not hear , nor do they understand . 14 "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled , which says , ' YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING , BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND ; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING , BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE ; 15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL , WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR , AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES , OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES , HEAR WITH THEIR EARS , AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN , AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.' 16 " But blessed are your eyes , because they see ; and your ears , because they hear . 17 "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see , and did not see it, and to hear what you hear , and did not hear it.
18 " Hear then the parable of the sower . 19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart . This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road . 20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy ; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself , but is only temporary , and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word , immediately he falls away . 22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns , this is the man who hears the word , and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word , and it becomes unfruitful . 23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil , this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth , some a hundredfold , some sixty , and some thirty ."
24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying , " The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field . 25 "But while his men were sleeping , his enemy came and sowed tares among e the wheat , and went away . 26 "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain , then the tares became evident also . 27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir , did you not sow good seed in your field ? How then does it have tares ?' 28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy e has done this !' The slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then , to go and gather them up?' 29 "But he said , 'No ; for while you are gathering up the tares , you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest ; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers , "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn ."' "
31 He presented another parable to them, saying , " The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed , which a man took and sowed in his field ; 32 and this is smaller than all other seeds , but when it is full grown , it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree , so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES ."
33 He spoke another parable to them, " The kingdom of heaven is like leaven , which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened ."
34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables , and He did not speak to them without a parable . 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet : " I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES ; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD ."
36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house . And His disciples came to Him and said , " Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field ." 37 And He said , "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man , 38 and the field is the world ; and as for the good seed , these are the sons of the kingdom ; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil , and the harvest is the end of the age ; and the reapers are angels . 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire , so shall it be at the end of the age . 41 " The Son of Man will send forth His angels , and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks , and those who commit lawlessness , 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire ; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth . 43 " Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father . He who has ears , let him hear .
44 " The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field , which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field .
45 "Again , the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls , 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value , he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 "Again , the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea , and gathering fish of every kind ; 48 and when it was filled , they drew it up on the beach ; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers , but the bad they threw away . 49 "So it will be at the end of the age ; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous , 50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire ; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth .
51 "Have you understood all these things ?" They said to Him, "Yes ." 52 And Jesus said to them, "Therefore e every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household , who brings out of his treasure things new and old ."
53 When Jesus had finished these parables , He departed from there . 54 He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue , so that they were astonished , and said , "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers ? 55 "Is not this the carpenter's son ? Is not His mother called Mary , and His brothers , James and Joseph and Simon and Judas ? 56 "And His sisters , are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things ?" 57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, " A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household ." 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief .
141 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus , 2 and said to his servants , " This is John the Baptist ; he has risen from the dead , and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." 3 For when Herod had John arrested , he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias , the wife of his brother Philip . 4 For John had been saying to him, " It is not lawful for you to have her." 5 Although Herod wanted to put him to death , he feared the crowd , because they regarded John as a prophet . 6 But when Herod's birthday came , the daughter of Herodias danced before e them and pleased Herod , 7 so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever e she asked . 8 Having been prompted by her mother , she said , "Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist ." 9 Although he was grieved , the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths , and because of his dinner guests . 10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison . 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl , and she brought it to her mother . 12 His disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus .
13 Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself ; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities . 14 When He went ashore , He saw a large crowd , and felt compassion for them and healed their sick . 15 When it was evening , the disciples came to Him and said , "This place is desolate and the hour is already late ; so send the crowds away , that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves ." 16 But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away ; you give them something to eat !" 17 They said to Him, "We have here only e e five loaves and two fish ." 18 And He said , "Bring them here to Me." 19 Ordering the people to sit down on the grass , He took the five loaves and the two fish , and looking up toward heaven , He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples , and the disciples gave them to the crowds , 20 and they all ate and were satisfied . They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces , twelve full baskets . 21 There were about five thousand men who ate , besides women and children .
22 Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side , while He sent the crowds away . 23 After He had sent the crowds away , He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray ; and when it was evening , He was there alone . 24 But the boat was already a long distance from the land , battered by the waves ; for the wind was contrary . 25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea . 26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea , they were terrified , and said , "It is a ghost !" And they cried out in fear . 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying , " Take courage , it is I; do not be afraid ." 28 Peter said to Him, "Lord , if it is You, command me to come to You on the water ." 29 And He said , "Come !" And Peter got out of the boat , and walked on the water and came toward Jesus . 30 But seeing the wind , he became frightened , and beginning to sink , he cried out, "Lord , save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, " You of little faith , why e did you doubt ?" 32 When they got into the boat , the wind stopped . 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying , "You are certainly God's Son !"
34 When they had crossed over , they came to land at Gennesaret . 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick ; 36 and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak ; and as many as touched it were cured .
