Matthew 13 is the thirteenth chapter in the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

section of the

Christian Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. Verses 3 to 52 of this chapter form the third of the five Discourses of Matthew, called the ''Parabolic Discourse'', based on the

parables A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, ...

of the Kingdom.''Preaching Matthew's Gospel'' by Richard A. Jensen (1998). . pp. 25 and 158. At the end of the chapter, Jesus is rejected by the people of his hometown,

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is

divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the ways that numbers are combined to make new numbers. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. At an elementary level the division of two natural numbe ...

into 58 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 103 (~AD 200; extant verses 55–56) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330–360) *

Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...

(~400) *

Codex Washingtonianus The Codex Washingtonianus or Codex Washingtonensis, designated by W or 032 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 014 ( Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Gospels'', and ''The Freer Gospel'', contains the four biblical gospels an ...

(~400) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...

(~450) *

Codex Purpureus Rossanensis The Rossano Gospels, designated by 042 or Σ (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 18 ( Soden), held at the cathedral of Rossano in Italy, is a 6th-century illuminated manuscript Gospel Book written following the reconquest of the Italian peninsu ...

(6th century) *

Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus, designated by N or 022 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 19 ( Soden), is a Greek New Testament codex containing the four Gospels. It has been paleographically dated to the 6th century. Codex Petropolitanus ...

(6th century; extant verses 5–32, 42–58) *

Codex Sinopensis The Sinope Gospels, designated by O or 023 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 21 ( Soden), also known as the Codex Sinopensis, is a fragment of a 6th-century illuminated Greek Gospel Book. Along with the Rossano Gospels, the Sinope Gospels h ...

(6th century; extant verses 7–47, 54–58)

Old Testament references

* : * :

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

New Testament references

* : ; ; ; ; .

Structure

This chapter can be grouped (with cross references, where there are parallels, to the other

gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

): * = Parable of the Sower (; ) * = Reason for Parables * = Parable of the Sower explained (; ) * =

Parable of the Tares The Parable of the Tares or Weeds (KJV: ''tares'', WNT: ''darnel'', DRB: ''cockle'') is a parable of Jesus which appears in . The parable relates how servants eager to pull up weeds were warned that in so doing they would root out the wheat as w ...

() * = Parable of the Mustard Seed (; ) * =

Parable of the Leaven A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, ...

() * =

explained * =

Parable of the Hidden Treasure The Parable of the Hidden Treasure is a well known parable of Jesus, which appears in Matthewbr>13:44 and illustrates the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven. It immediately precedes the parable of the Pearl, which has a similar theme. The par ...

* =

Parable of the Pearl The Parable of the Pearl (also called the Pearl of Great Price) is one of the parables of Jesus. It appears in Matthew 13 and illustrates the great value of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the penultimate parable in Matthew 13, coming just befor ...

* =

Parable of Drawing in the Net Jesus' parable of drawing in the net, or the parable of the dragnet, appears in and refers to the final judgment. This parable is the seventh and last in Matthew 13, which began with the parable of the Sower. It directly follows the Parable of ...

* = Conclusion * = Jesus is rejected in Nazareth (; )

Parables

Matthew 13 presents seven parables, Alford, H.
Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford
on Matthew 13, accessed 25 February 2021 and two explanations of his parables. The chapter contains the following parables, in respective order: # Parable of the Sower #

# Parable of the Mustard Seed #

The following explanations of the first two parables are included: # Explanation of the Parable of the Sower # Explanation of the

Protestant theologian

Heinrich Meyer Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer (10 January 1800 – 21 June 1873) was a German Protestant divine. He wrote commentaries on the ''New Testament'' and published an edition of that book. Biography Meyer was born in Gotha. He studied theology at Jena, ...

identifies two groups of parables: the four first parables (up to ) "were spoken in presence of the multitude, and the other three again within the circle of the

disciples A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

".Meyer, H. A. W.
Meyer's NT Commentary
on Matthew 13, published 1880, accessed 13 January 2017 German liberal Protestant theologian

David Strauss David Friedrich Strauss (german: link=no, Strauß ; 27 January 1808 – 8 February 1874) was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer, who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he ...

thought this chapter was "overwhelming with parables". At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus sits in a ship or a boat on the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

and addresses the crowd who stand on the shore or the beach. The

Textus Receptus ''Textus Receptus'' (Latin: "received text") refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus's ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant deno ...

has inserted the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

( gr, τὸ πλοῖον, ''to ploion''), suggesting that there was a boat kept waiting for him, Bengel, J. A.
Bengel's ''Gnomon''
on Matthew 13, accessed 13 January 2017 but other texts do not include the definite article and the

Pulpit Commentary The ''Pulpit Commentary'' is a homiletic commentary on the Bible created during the nineteenth century under the direction of Rev. Joseph S. Exell and Henry Donald Maurice Spence-Jones. It consists of 23 volumes with 22,000 pages and 95,000 entri ...

therefore argues that it was "wrongly inserted".

Verses 51-52

:''⁵¹"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked.'' :''"Yes", they replied.'' :''⁵² He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."'' These verses conclude the ''Parabolic Discourse'' and may be called a "comparative proverb".Allison, D. Jr., ''Matthew'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)
The Oxford Bible Commentary
p. 862

Henry Alford Henry Alford (7 October 181012 January 1871) was an English churchman, theologian, textual critic, scholar, poet, hymnodist, and writer. Life Alford was born in London, of a Somerset family, which had given five consecutive generations of c ...

describes them as a "solemn conclusion to the parables.

Johann Bengel Johann Albrecht Bengel (24 June 1687 – 2 November 1752), also known as ''Bengelius'', was a Lutheran pietist clergyman and Greek-language scholar known for his edition of the Greek New Testament and his commentaries on it. Life and career Be ...

suggests that Jesus would have been ready to explain the other parables if necessary, "but they understood them, if not perfectly, yet truly". The reference to

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

s, or teachers of the Jewish law, who became disciples reflects the Matthean gospel focus in particular; the Jerusalem Bible suggests that this reference may portray the evangelist himself.

Verses 53-58

The final verses of this chapter see Jesus return to his home town, meaning Nazareth, where he preaches in the

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

and experiences the rejection of his "own people", and his own country. Dale Allison sees these verses and the following chapters as far as chapter 17 as recounting "the birth of the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

"; the Jerusalem Bible likewise holds that the same long section constitutes a narrative on the Church, followed by Matthew 18, which is often called the ''Discourse on the Church''.Jensen, R. A. (1998), ''Preaching Matthew's Gospel'', pages 25 and 158

References

External links

* * King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Matthew 13 Gospel of Matthew chapters