Matthew 13:19-38

19Some people hear the message about God's kingdom but they do not understand it. Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. The seeds that fell on the path show what those people are like.

20Other seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time.

21But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or other people may do bad things to them, because they obey God's message. When that happens, these people soon stop believing.

22Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like people who hear the message from God. But they have many troubles in their minds. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds.

23But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who hear the message from God and they understand it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 100 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 30 new seeds.’

24Then Jesus told the people another story. He said, ‘This is what the kingdom of heaven is like: A farmer planted some good wheat seeds into his field.

25But one night, when everyone was sleeping, a bad person came to the farmer's field. He did not like the farmer. This bad person planted seeds from weeds among the good wheat seeds. Then the bad person went away again.

26The good seeds grew and the plants began to make new seeds. But when this happened, the weeds also grew.

27So the farmer's servants came to speak to him. “Master, you planted only good seeds in your field but now many weeds are also growing there. How did this happen?” they asked him.

28The farmer said to his servants, “A bad person who does not like me has done this.” So the servants then asked the farmer, “Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?”

29The farmer replied, “No, I do not want you to do that. If you pull up the weeds, you may also pull up some of the good wheat plants.

30Let the good plants and the weeds grow up together. At harvest time, I will tell the workers to cut down the weeds first. Then they will tie them together and burn them. Then they will cut the wheat and bring it into my building. I will store it there.” ’

31Jesus told the people another story. He said, ‘I will tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like. It is like a very small seed of the plant called mustard. A man took this seed and he planted it in his field.

32It is the smallest seed that there is. But when it starts to grow, it will become bigger than the largest bush. It will become a tree. The wild birds will come and they will build their nests among the branches of that tree.’

33Jesus told the people another story. He said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is also like this. It is like how yeast works. A woman took the yeast and she mixed it into three large bowls of flour. Then the yeast went through all the flour so that it grew big.’

34Jesus told the crowds of people all these things. But he only used stories to teach them.

35So what God's prophet had said long ago now became true: ‘I will use stories when I speak to them. And I will teach them secret things. People have never learned these things before, since the world began.’

36Then Jesus told the crowds of people to go away. He went into the house where he was staying. His disciples also went into the house with him. They said to him, ‘Explain to us the story about the weeds that were growing in the field.’

37Jesus replied, ‘The Son of Man is like the farmer who planted the good seed in the field.

38The field is like the world. The good seeds are like the people who belong to God's kingdom. The weeds are like the people who belong to the Devil.