Matthew 13:10-17

13:10 Then ¹  the disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 13:11 He replied, ²  “You have been given ³  the opportunity to know ⁴  the secrets ⁵  of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not. 13:12 For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. ⁶  13:13 For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand. 13:14 And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘You will listen carefully ⁷  yet will never understand,

you will look closely ⁸  yet will never comprehend.

13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull;

they are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’ ⁹ 

13:16 “But your eyes are blessed ¹⁰  because they see, and your ears because they hear. 13:17 For I tell you the truth, ¹¹  many prophets and righteous people longed to see ¹²  what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Matthew 13:51-52

13:51 “Have you understood all these things?” They replied, “Yes.” 13:52 Then he said to them, “Therefore every expert in the law ¹³  who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and old.”

Mark 4:11

4:11 He said to them, “The secret ¹⁴  of the kingdom of God has been given ¹⁵  to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,

Mark 4:34

4:34 He did not speak to them without a parable. But privately he explained everything to his own disciples.

Acts 8:30-31

8:30 So Philip ran up ¹⁶  to it ¹⁷  and heard the man ¹⁸  reading Isaiah the prophet. He ¹⁹  asked him, ²⁰  “Do you understand what you’re reading?” 8:31 The man ²¹  replied, “How in the world can I, ²²  unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

[13:10]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:11]  ² tn Grk “And answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:11]  ³ tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[13:11]  ⁴ tn Grk “to you it has been given to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.

[13:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “the mysteries.”

[13:12]  ⁶ sn What he has will be taken from him. The meaning is that the one who accepts Jesus’ teaching concerning his person and the kingdom will receive a share in the kingdom now and even more in the future, but for the one who rejects Jesus’ words, the opportunity that that person presently possesses with respect to the kingdom will someday be taken away forever.

[13:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “with hearing,” a cognate dative that intensifies the action of the main verb “you will listen” (ExSyn 168-69).

[13:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “look by looking.” The participle is redundant, functioning to intensify the force of the main verb.

[13:15]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.

[13:16]  ¹⁰ sn This beatitude highlights the great honor bestowed on the disciples to share in this salvation.

[13:17]  ¹¹ tn Grk “truly (ἀμήν, amhn) I say to you.”

[13:17]  ¹² sn This is what past prophets and righteous people had wanted very much to see, yet the fulfillment had come to the disciples. This remark is like 1 Pet 1:10-12 or Heb 1:1-2.

[13:52]  ¹³ tn Or “every scribe.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4. It is possible that the term translated “expert in the law” (traditionally, “scribe”) here is a self-description used by the author, Matthew, to represent his role in conveying the traditions about Jesus to his intended audience. See David E. Orton, The Understanding Scribe [JSNTSup].

[4:11]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the mystery.”

[4:11]  ¹⁵ tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[8:30]  ¹⁶ tn The participle προσδραμών (prosdramwn) is regarded as attendant circumstance.

[8:30]  ¹⁷ tn The words “to it” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[8:30]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “heard him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:30]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.

[8:30]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he said”; but since what follows is a question, it is better English style to translate the introduction to the question “he asked him.”

[8:31]  ²¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:31]  ²² tn Grk “How am I able, unless…” The translation is based on the force of the conjunction γάρ (gar) in this context. The translation “How in the world can I?” is given in BDAG 189 s.v. γάρ 1.f.