Matthew 13:3

²He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching, ³“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow. ⁴As he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds^[+] came and devoured it. ⁵Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. ⁶When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. ⁸Others fell into the good ground and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.” ⁹He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹³He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables?

²I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old,

⁵“The farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the road, and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the sky devoured it. ⁶Some seed fell on the rock, and as soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷Some fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸Some fell into the good ground and grew and produced one hundred times as much fruit.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

³⁴Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, ³⁵that 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.”

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

³Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says, “Put the cauldron on the fire. Put it on, and also pour water into it. ⁴Gather its pieces into it, even every good piece: the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice bones. ⁵Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron. Make it boil well. Yes, let its bones be boiled within it.”

⁶“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is in it, and whose rust hasn’t gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece without casting lots for it. ⁷“‘“For the blood she shed is in the middle of her. She set it on the bare rock. She didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. ⁸That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.”

⁹“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. ¹⁰Heap on the wood. Make the fire hot. Boil the meat well. Make the broth thick, and let the bones be burned. ¹¹Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its bronze may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. ¹²She is weary with toil; yet her great rust, rust by fire, doesn’t leave her.

¹³“‘“In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.

¹⁴“‘“I, the LORD, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord GOD.’”

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

¹¹He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. ¹²For 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. ¹³Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

¹The LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. ²The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. ⁴A traveler came to the rich man, and he didn’t want to take of his own flock and of his own herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

⁵David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die! ⁶He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity!”

⁷Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.