13:24 He presented them with another parable: 1 “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field.
13:31 He gave 2 them another parable: 3 “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed 4 that a man took and sowed in his field. 13:32 It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest garden plant and becomes a tree, 5 so that the wild birds 6 come and nest in its branches.” 7
13:33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with 8 three measures 9 of flour until all the dough had risen.” 10
13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.
13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. 13:46 When he found a pearl of great value, he went out and sold everything he had and bought it.
13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea that caught all kinds of fish.
25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
25:14 “For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves 11 and entrusted his property to them.
1 tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.
2 tn Grk “put before.”
3 tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.
4 sn The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.
5 sn This is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically a mustard plant is not a tree. This could refer to one of two types of mustard plant popular in Palestine and would be either ten or twenty-five ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.
6 tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).
7 sn The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.
8 tn Grk “hid in.”
9 sn This measure was a saton, the Greek name for the Hebrew term “seah.” Three of these was a very large quantity of flour, since a saton is a little over 16 pounds (7 kg) of dry measure (or 13.13 liters). So this was over 47 lbs (21 kg) of flour total, enough to feed over a hundred people.
10 tn Grk “it was all leavened.”
11 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 8:9.