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Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow.
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And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.
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Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.
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But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.
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And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.
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But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
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He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
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And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
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He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
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For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
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Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
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And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;
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For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'
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"But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
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for assuredly, 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.
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"Therefore hear the parable of the sower:
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When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.
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But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
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yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
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Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
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But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."
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Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
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but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
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But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
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So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'
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He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'
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But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
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Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." ' "
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Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
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which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."
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Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."