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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mat C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28
Mat 13 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53 V55 V57
OET (OET-LV) He_set_before to_them another parable saying:
The kingdom of_the heavens was_likened to_a_man having_sown good seed in the field of_him.
OET (OET-RV) Then Yeshua told them another parable, saying, “The heavenly kingdom is like a farmer who’s planted good seed in his field.
In this section, Jesus told the parable about the weeds and the wheat. He explained the meaning of this parable later in 13:36–43.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The parable of the weeds
Weeds among the wheat
This parable occurs only in Matthew.
Jesus put before them another parable:
¶ Then Jesus told another parable to the people:
¶ Here is another story that Jesus told the people:
Jesus put before them another parable: This clause is a figure of speech. It compares placing a parable before people to putting food in front of people for them to eat.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Jesus told them another parable (NIV)
Here is another parable he gave them (REB)
Here is another story Jesus told (NLT)
them: This pronoun refers to the crowds mentioned in 13:2 and later in 13:34. It does not just refer to the disciples. You may want to make this clear in your translation. For example:
the people
the crowd
“The kingdom of heaven is like
“The kingdom of heaven is like this:
“God’s rule/chieftaincy is like the story about
The kingdom of heaven is like: Here Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to the whole situation described in the parable in 13:24–30. He did not compare the kingdom of heaven to just the man.
If people in your area will think that the comparison is only to the man, you may want to indicate that the comparison is to the whole parable. Here are some ways to do this:
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to (ESV)
The kingdom of heaven is like the story about
The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when (CEV)
kingdom of heaven: This phrase last occurred in 13:11b. You should translate it here as you did in other places in Matthew such as 11:11c.
a man who sowed good seed in his field.
A man scattered good seeds in his field.
a man who planted good seeds in his field.
a man who sowed: The verb sowed is the same verb as in the parable of the sower (13:3–8, 13:19–23). It refers to scattering seed by throwing.
The way that the farmer sowed the seed in this parable is not important to the meaning of the parable. So if scattering seed is not a normal way of sowing, you may want to use a more general term for planting seed here. For example:
planted (NLT)
good seed: We would expect that when a farmer sows seed in his field, he would always sow good seed. So the word good would not normally be necessary. The fact that it is here indicates that a problem is coming.
field: This word refers to a large area of ground that the farmer has prepared for planting food plants.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἄλλην παραβολήν Παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων ὡμοιώθη Ἡ Βασιλεία τῶν Οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ σπείραντι καλόν σπέρμα ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ αὐτοῦ)
Matthew speaks as if the parable were an object that Jesus could set before the people. He means that Jesus told them another parable. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable figure of speech or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [He spoke to them] or [He narrated to them]
Note 2 topic: writing-pronouns
αὐτοῖς
˱to˲_them
The pronoun them refers to the people who were standing by the side of the Sea of Galilee (see [13:2](../13/02.md)). If this is not clear for your readers, you could refer to those people more directly. Alternate translation: [the people standing on the shore] or [those people]
Note 3 topic: writing-quotations
λέγων
saying
Consider natural ways of introducing direct quotations in your language. Alternate translation: [and he said]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / parables
ὡμοιώθη ἡ Βασιλεία τῶν Οὐρανῶν, ἀνθρώπῳ
˓was˒_likened (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἄλλην παραβολήν Παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων ὡμοιώθη Ἡ Βασιλεία τῶν Οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ σπείραντι καλόν σπέρμα ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ αὐτοῦ)
To teach the people in the crowd, Jesus offers a story or illustration. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could indicate that explicitly. Alternate translation: [Listen to this story: the kingdom of the heavens is compared to a man]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
ὡμοιώθη ἡ Βασιλεία τῶν Οὐρανῶν
˓was˒_likened (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἄλλην παραβολήν Παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων ὡμοιώθη Ἡ Βασιλεία τῶν Οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ σπείραντι καλόν σπέρμα ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ αὐτοῦ)
If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who does the comparing, it is clear from the context that it is Jesus himself. Alternate translation: [I compare the kingdom of the heavens to] or [The kingdom of the heavens is comparable to]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
ἀνθρώπῳ & αὐτοῦ
˱to˲_˓a˒_man & ˱of˲_him
Here Jesus is telling a story about a specific man. It is not important for the story whether the person is a man or a woman. If you have a form that refers to any person without identifying a gender, you could use it here. Otherwise, you could identify the person as a man, as the UST does.
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
καλὸν σπέρμα
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἄλλην παραβολήν Παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων ὡμοιώθη Ἡ Βασιλεία τῶν Οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ σπείραντι καλόν σπέρμα ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ αὐτοῦ)
Here, the phrase good seed refers to seed that sprouts into plants that produce helpful crops. If it would be helpful to your readers, you could make this idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [seed that sprouts into productive plants]
Note 8 topic: grammar-collectivenouns
σπέρμα
seed
The word seed is singular in form, but it refers to many seeds as a group. If it would be helpful in your language, you could say this plainly. Alternate translation: [seeds]
13:1-53 In the third major discourse recorded by Matthew (see study note on Matt 5:1–7:29), Jesus here recognized the separation of his followers from others (13:14, 16) and began to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom privately to them through parables.
OET (OET-LV) He_set_before to_them another parable saying:
The kingdom of_the heavens was_likened to_a_man having_sown good seed in the field of_him.
OET (OET-RV) Then Yeshua told them another parable, saying, “The heavenly kingdom is like a farmer who’s planted good seed in his field.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.