He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? Then how will you understand any parable?

He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching said to them:

So with many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear.

So he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?

When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

He also asked, “To what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to present it?

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

Now when Jesus had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.

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

Now they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So they left him and went away.

Then he began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went on a journey.

“Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.