“To what then should I compare the people ¹  of this generation, and what are they like?

Thus Jesus ¹  asked, ²  “What is the kingdom of God ³  like? ⁴  To ⁵  what should I compare it?

It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with ¹  three measures ²  of flour until all the dough had risen.” ³ 

“Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and puts them into practice ¹  – I will show you what he is like:

be like people ¹  waiting for their master to come back from the wedding celebration, ²  so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.

But the person who hears and does not put my words into practice ¹  is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When ²  the river burst against that house, ³  it collapsed immediately, and was utterly destroyed!” ⁴ 

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, ¹  ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ²  we wailed in mourning, ³  yet you did not weep.’

It is like a mustard seed ¹  that a man took and sowed ²  in his garden. It ³  grew and became a tree, ⁴  and the wild birds ⁵  nested in its branches.” ⁶ 

He is like a man ¹  building a house, who dug down deep, ²  and laid the foundation on bedrock. When ³  a flood came, the river ⁴  burst against that house but ⁵  could not shake it, because it had been well built. ⁶