Matthew 13:3-23

3And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a sower went out to spread some seed.

4As he was scattering the seed, some seeds fell by the road; and the birds came and ate them up.

5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil. They sprang up immediately, because the soil wasn’t deep.

6But when the sun came up, they were scorched; and because they had no roots, they withered away.

7Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked them out.

8But others fell on good soil and were producing fruit. They yielded a crop—some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

9He who has ears, let him hear.”

10Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

11And He replied to them, “To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

12For whoever has, to him more will be given and he will have plenty. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

13For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear nor do they understand.

14”And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing but will never understand; you will keep looking, but will never see.

15For the heart of this people has become dull, their ears can barely hear, and they have shut their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts. Then they would turn back, and I would heal them.’

16“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

17Amen, I tell you, many a prophet and tzaddik longed to see what you are seeing and did not see, and to hear what you are hearing and did not hear.”

18“You then, hear the parable of the sower.

19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one having been sown along the road.

20“The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

21Yet he has no root himself but lasts only a short while; and when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

22“But the one sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word; and the worries of the world and the seduction of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

23“Now the one sown on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands. He indeed bears fruit, yielding a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”