<p class="bodytext">He said to them, &#8220;Don&#8217;t you understand this parable? Then<n id="1" /> how will you understand any parable?

He taught them many things in parables,<n id="1" /> and in his teaching said to them:

<t /><p class="bodytext">So<n id="1" /> with many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear.

So<n id="1" /> he called them and spoke to them in parables:<n id="2" /> &#8220;How can Satan cast out Satan?

<t /><p class="bodytext">When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

<t /><p class="bodytext">He also asked, &#8220;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.p>

<p class="bodytext">Now<n id="1" /> when Jesus<n id="2" /> had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.

He said to them, &#8220;The secret<n id="1" /> of the kingdom of God has been given<n id="2" /> to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,p>

<p class="bodyblock">Now<n id="1" /> they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So<n id="2" /> they left him and went away.<n id="3" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> he began to speak to them in parables: &#8220;A man planted a vineyard.<n id="2" /> He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then<n id="3" /> he leased it to tenant farmers<n id="4" /> and went on a journey.

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.