22. The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing.
23. But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”
24. He presented them with another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field.
25. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
26. When the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.
27. So the slaves of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’
28. He said, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the slaves replied, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’
29. But he said, ‘No, since in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.
30. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, but then gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
31. He gave them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
32. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, so that the wild birds come and nest in its branches.”
33. He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen.”
34. Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the crowds; he did not speak to them without a parable.