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- Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
- But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
- When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
- "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
- " 'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
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- " 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.
- Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "
- He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.
- Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."
- He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."
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- Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
- So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."
- Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
- He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
- The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
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- and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
- "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
- The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
- They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
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