the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Matthew 13:38-43 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Parallel Translations
-
the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.
The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,
and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
-
And the felde is the worlde. And the chyldre of the kingdome they are the good seed. And the tares are the chyldren of the wicked.
And the enemye that soweth the is the devell. The harvest is the end of the worlde. And the repers be the angels.
For even as the tares are gaddred and bret in the fyre: so shall it be in the ende of this worlde.
The sonne of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kyngdome all thinges that offende and them which do iniquite
and shall cast them into a furnes of fyre. There shalbe waylynge and gnasshing of teth.
Then shall the iuste men shyne as bryght as the sunne in the kyngdome of their father. Whosoever hath eares to heare let him heare.
Show all 3 translations
-
And the field is the worlde, and the good seede are the children of the kingdome, and the tares are the children of that wicked one.
And the enemie that soweth them, is the deuill, and the haruest is the end of the worlde, and the reapers be the Angels.
As then the tares are gathered and burned in ye fire, so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Sonne of man shall send forth his Angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which doe iniquitie,
And shall cast them into a fornace of fire. There shalbe wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then shall the iust men shine as ye sunne in the kingdome of their Father. Hee that hath eares to heare, let him heare.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (96)
- Daniel 12:3 (v43) Those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the expanse. Those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and…
- Matthew 24:31 (v41) He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one…
- Matthew 13:49 (vv39, 41) So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
- Matthew 13:50 (v42) and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
- Revelation 14:15-19 (v39) Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Send your sickle, and reap; for the hour to…
Show all 93 cross-references
- Luke 12:32 (v43) Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
- John 8:44 (v38) You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand…
- Matthew 11:15 (v43) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
- Matthew 25:31 (v39) “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
- Matthew 25:34 (v43) Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of…
- 1 Corinthians 15:41-54 (v43) There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.…
- Joel 3:13 (v39) Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
- Matthew 8:12 (v42) but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Matthew 18:7 (v41) “Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the…
- Luke 16:23-24 (v42) In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham,…
- 2 Peter 2:1-2 (v41) But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies,…
- Revelation 20:10 (v42) The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be…
- Revelation 20:14-15 (v42) Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book…
- Revelation 21:22-23 (v43) I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for…
- Revelation 21:27 (v41) There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the…
- Revelation 19:20 (vv39, 42) The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the…
- Matthew 13:39 (v40) The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
- Acts 13:10 (v38) and said, “You son of the devil, full of all deceit and all cunning, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the…
- Philippians 3:18-19 (v38) For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,…
- Revelation 21:3-5 (v43) I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his…
- James 2:5 (vv38, 43) Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he…
- Matthew 13:25 (v39) but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.
- Matthew 24:3 (v39) As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of…
- Matthew 25:36 (v43) I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 (v39) and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,…
- 1 John 3:8-10 (v38) He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might…
- Revelation 12:9 (v39) The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown…
- Revelation 13:14 (v39) He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast, saying to those who dwell…
- Genesis 3:15 (v38) I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise…
- Psalms 21:9 (v42) You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
- Daniel 3:6 (v42) Whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall be cast into the middle of a burning fiery furnace the same hour.”
- Matthew 26:29 (v43) But I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s…
- Mark 9:43-49 (v42) If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go…
- Luke 22:29 (v43) I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on me,
- Romans 2:8-9 (v41) but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, oppression, and anguish…
- Romans 2:16 (v41) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58 (v43) Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in…
- Ephesians 6:11-12 (v39) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and…
- Hebrews 1:6-7 (v41) When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his…
- Hebrews 1:14 (v41) Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
- Hebrews 9:26 (v39) or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put…
- 1 Peter 1:23 (v38) having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.
- 1 Peter 5:8 (v39) Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Revelation 5:11-12 (v41) I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders. The number of them was…
- Revelation 14:10 (v42) he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and…
- Daniel 3:15-17 (v42) Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and…
- Daniel 3:21-22 (v42) Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other clothes, and were cast into the middle of the…
- Daniel 7:10 (v39) A fiery stream issued and came out from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before…
- Matthew 3:12 (v42) His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the…
- Matthew 7:22-23 (v41) Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty…
- Matthew 13:19 (v38) When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his…
- Matthew 13:28 (v39) “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
- Matthew 22:13 (v42) Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the…
- Matthew 25:41 (v42) Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his…
- Matthew 28:20 (v39) teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- Luke 13:26-27 (v41) Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know…
- Luke 13:28 (v42) There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being…
- Romans 16:17-18 (v41) Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you…
- 2 Corinthians 2:17 (v39) For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3 (v39) But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is…
- 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (v39) For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles. And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an…
- Ephesians 2:2 (v39) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8-11 (v39) Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his…
- James 1:18 (v38) Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
- Jude 1:14 (v39) About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,
- Revelation 20:2-3 (v39) He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand…
- Revelation 20:7-10 (v39) And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four…
- Revelation 21:8 (v42) But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in…
- Psalms 22:30 (v38) Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord.
- Isaiah 53:10 (v38) Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He…
- Hosea 2:23 (v38) I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people,…
- Zephaniah 1:3 (v41) I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I…
- Zechariah 10:8-9 (v38) I will signal for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased. I will sow them among the…
- Matthew 8:20 (v41) Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
- Matthew 24:14 (v38) This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
- Mark 13:27 (v41) Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of…
- Luke 24:47 (v38) and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
- John 1:12-13 (v38) But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: who were born not of…
- John 12:24 (v38) Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much…
- Romans 8:17 (v38) and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
- Romans 10:18 (v38) But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
- Colossians 1:6 (v38) which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and…
- 1 John 3:2 (v38) Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for…
- Revelation 9:2 (v42) He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened…
- Matthew 28:18-20 (v38) Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go and make disciples of all…
- Mark 16:15-20 (v38) He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but…
- Romans 16:26 (v38)
- Revelation 14:6 (v38) I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal Good News to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe,…
93 distinct cross-references across this passage (96 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv38–43 38 The field is the world; the good seed…
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Ver. 38. The field is the world] The Christian world, the Church, not the Roman Catholic Church only, the Pope’s territories, as he would have it. The Rogatian heretics would needs have made the world believe that they were the only Catholics. The Anabaptists have the same conceit of themselves. Munzer their chieftain, in his book written against Luther, and dedicated to Christ the most illustrious Prince (as he styleth him), inveigheth bitterly at him, as one that was merely carnal, and utterly void of the spirit of revelation. And Pareus upon this text tells us, that in a conference at Frankendale, the Anabaptists thus argued, The field is the world, therefore not the Church; that by the same reason they might deny, that tares breed in the Church. But tares are and will be in the visible Church, as our Saviour purposely teacheth by this parable.
Read full note →
The tares are the children of that wicked one] So called partly in respect of their serpentine nature, those corrupt qualities whereby they resemble the devil; and partly because they creep into the Church by Satan’s subtlety, being his agents and emissaries. Agnosco te primogenitum diaboli, saith St John of that heretic Cerinthus. And hypocrites are his sons and heirs, the very freeholders of hell, and other sinners but their tenants, which have their part or lot with hypocrites, Mat 24:29.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v40 As in the common practice of men, when they…
As in the common practice of men, when they have a mind to pick their corn, and have it clean, when it is reaped, to set men to clean the wheat, and to pick out the tares, and, having tied them up in bundles, to burn them, so (saith he) I will do. I will send my angels at the day of judgment, and they shall take out of my church all impenitent sinners, all those who in this world have been scandals, and offences, and mischievous to my people, and who have made it their business to work iniquity.
And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. That is, into hell, which, in regard of the severe torments which the damned shall feel there, is often in Scripture compared to fire, as Mat 25:41, and in other texts, by which is only set out to us the dreadfulness of the punishment of the damned, that is proportioned to, if not far exceeding, that of the burning living bodies in fire. Having thus expressed the punishment of wicked men, he expounds what he means by gathering the wheat into his barn, viz. the taking of righteous men to heaven.
Read full note →
Then, saith he,
shall the righteous, those whom I have clothed with my righteousness, and who have lived in obedience to my will to that degree, that though they be not perfectly righteous, yet are sincere and upright, so as I have accepted them,
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father: an expression much like that of Dan 12:2,3, significative of that glorious state of the saints in heaven, which no eye having seen, nor ear having heard, no tongue is able to express. He concludes in the same manner as he concludes the parable of the sower, exciting his hearers to a diligent consideration and belief of what he had said.
Our Saviour adding no particular explication of the two parables delivered, Mat 13:31-33, the disciples not asking him to explain them, and the evangelist having put the explication of the first parable after them, it is reasonable, that though I omitted the explication of them in their proper place, yet I should add something here for the benefit of those who possibly will not be able so readily to conceive our Saviour’s meaning in them without an interpreter as the disciples did, which is thought to be the reason why they asked no explication of them. The one is the parable of the
grain of mustard seed, Mat 13:31,32; the other, the parable of
leaven hid in three measures of meal, Mat 13:33. The scope of both is the same. Our Saviour intended them both to let his disciples know the success that his gospel should have over all the world, that they might not be discouraged at the little success of it at present. To this purpose he compares it, first, to
a grain of mustard seed, which, he saith,
is the least of all seeds, that is, one of the least of seeds, or the least seed that produces so great a plant; but becomes a tree so high,
that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Though that small seed with us runs up to a great height, and produces a plant which hath branches considerable enough to lodge birds which sit low, yet we must not judge of what grew in those countries by what groweth in ours; there are strange and almost incredible stories told of that plant by naturalists, as to its growth in some hot and fertile countries. Christ by this foretold his disciples, what following ages quickly verified, that the heathen should entertain the gospel, and the sound of it should go to the ends of the earth, notwithstanding its present small appearance. Upon the same score he compares it to a little
leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal, till the whole mass of meal was leavened. By these two expressions our Saviour also lets us know the quick and powerful nature of the word; that Christ’s words are (as he said) spirit of life, and have a hidden and extraordinary virtue in them. I do not think it worth the while to inquire into the contents of these σατα or measures of meal, and why he mentions but three. They are curiosities, the knowledge of which turneth to no account. Our Saviour certainly, by the expression, designed only to hint the small number of the Jews that believed in him, but foretold a far greater harvest.
The law should go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, as Isaiah prophesied, Isa 2:3; but many people (after them) should say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv38–43 As therefore the tares are gathered,.... As it is…
As therefore the tares are gathered,.... As it is represented in the parable, that in the time of harvest, the tares shall be gathered out from the wheat first; and being bound in bundles, shall burnt in the fire, prepared for that purpose,
so shall it be in the end of this world; hypocritical and heretical men, and all formal professors, shall be gathered out from among the saints, and the several churches, among whom they have been; and shall be together cast into everlasting burnings, prepared for the devil and his angels, whose children they are.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv38, 41 The good seed are the children of the kingdom…
The good seed are the children of the kingdom - That is, the children of God, the righteous.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v40 Mat 13:40-43. As the tares are gathered — At…
Mat 13:40-43. As the tares are gathered — At the command of the owner of the field; and burnt in the fire — So totally destroyed as never to revive and flourish again; so shall it be at the end of the world — With regard to the finally impenitent: their destruction, not their annihilation, shall be complete and eternal; without any hope or possibility of a restoration. See note on Mat 3:12. The Son of man shall send forth his angels — Who shall all attend him on that solemn occasion, Mat 25:31. What a high idea does our Lord here give us of himself; representing the holy angels as his attendants, who shall wait on him at the last day, and at his order assemble the whole world before him! And they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend — Whatever had grieved the children of God, or been an obstruction to them in their Christian course; whatever things or persons had hindered the good seed which Christ had sown from taking root or bearing fruit. The Greek, παντα τα σκανδαλα, is, all the scandals, or, stumbling-blocks. And them which do iniquity — Who shall now be perfectly and eternally separated from the righteous, and excluded from Christ’s kingdom. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire — These blessed spirits, as the executioners of the divine vengeance, shall cast them into the unquenchable fire of hell. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth — The most extreme torment, attended with the height of anguish, rage, and despair; a despair aggravated by all the privileges they once enjoyed, and the vain hope which, as professors of the true religion, they once entertained. Therefore they shall not be annihilated, nor their misery alleviated by any expectation of being ever restored or delivered from their sufferings. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun — “Being freed from all the humbling circumstances which attend mortality, they shall shine like the sun in the firmament for brightness and beauty and shall find no diminution of their splendour by age. A noble image this to represent the glory and happiness of the righteous with God their Father.” Who hath ears to hear, let him hear — “This exclamation intimates, that truths of greater importance and solemnity cannot be uttered than those which respect the final misery of the wicked, and the inconceivable happiness of the righteous, and that all who have the faculty of reason, ought therefore to regard them with becoming attention.” — Macknight.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv38, 39, 41, 42, 43 The tares are the children of the wicked one--As…
The tares are the children of the wicked one--As this sowing could only be "while men slept," no blame seems intended, and certainly none is charged upon "the servants"; it is probably just the dress of the parable.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv40–43 40. End of this world — The end of…
40. End of this world — The end of probationary time. While that lasts the good and evil mingle together. Then comes the world of retribution, in which the good and evil are parted into separate states of reward.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v43 43. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the…
43. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun] Cp. Dan_12:3, “Then they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv38, 39, 41, 42, 43 (38) The tares are the children of the wicked…
(38) The tares are the children of the wicked one.—It was, perhaps, natural that theologians, who saw in heresy the greatest of all evils, should identify the tares with heretics. So far as heresy rises from the spirit of self-will, or antagonism to righteousness, we may admit that they are included in the class, but the true definition is that given in Mat_13:41, “all things that offend, and them which do iniquity.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv38–43 The children of the kingdom; the sons, etc. (Revised…
The children of the kingdom; the sons, etc. (Revised Version); Mat_5:9, note. The tares are the children of the wicked one; of the evil one (Revised Version); cf. Mat_6:13, note. (On the bearing that the evidence of the Old Syriac and the Old Latin versions here has on the masculine interpretation there, see Chase, "Lord"s Prayer," etc., pp. 155, 159, sqq.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv38, 43 The field is the world.
Mat_13:38
The field is the world.
Read full note →
The moral dignity of the missionary enterprise
I. The grandeur of the object. Survey the field geographically. Estimate the miseries of the world. Consider these human beings as immortal, and candidates for an eternity of happiness or misery.
II. The missionary undertaking is arduous enough to call into action the noblest energies of man. This enterprise requires consummate wisdom, unwavering perseverance, undaunted courage, sublime faith.
III. The means by which this moral revolution is to be effected. By the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Contemplate the simplicity, benevolence, and efficacy of this means. (F. Wayland, D. D.)
The gospel sphere
I. Its geographical and statistical extent.
II. Its moral condition.
III. Its redeemed condition.
IV. Its glorious destination. A destiny of universal knowledge, righteousness, peace, felicity.
V. His commanding claims upon us. (J. Burns, D. D.)
I. The field is the world, because the commission of Christ does not restrict the publication of the gospel to any one class or nation.
II. The world is the field in which the Church is to sow the seed of the Word, because the world has been given to Christ her Head.
III. Because, however wide it may be, ample means exist for its cultivation.
IV. That the field to be cultivated by the Church is the world, is shown by the example of the inspired apostles.
V. Follows from the fact that the gospel is suited alike to all the nations of the world.
VI. The very nature of moral principle in the heart, of man requires that the Church regard the world as the field.
VII. The composition of the congregation assembled in heaven proves that the field is the world.
1. Send the gospel to all.
2. Value souls.
3. Cultivate a lively sympathy with the glory of Christ.
4. Lay the foundation of all usefulness in personal godliness. (J. Stewart.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v43 Pro 4:18. - Mat 13:43.
Proverbs
FROM DAWN TO NOON
Read full note →
Pro 4:18. - Mat 13:43.
The metaphor common to both these texts is not infrequent throughout Scripture. In one of the oldest parts of the Old Testament, Deborah’s triumphal song, we find, ‘Let all them that love Thee be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.’ In one of the latest parts of the Old Testament, Daniel’s prophecy, we read, ‘They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.’ Then in the New Testament we have Christ’s comparison of His servants to light, and the great promise which I have read as my second text. The upshot of them all is this-the most radiant thing on earth is the character of a good man. The world calls men of genius and intellectual force its lights. The divine estimate, which is the true one, confers the name on righteousness.
But my first text follows out another analogy; not only brightness, but progressive brightness, is the characteristic of the righteous man.
We are to think of the strong Eastern sun, whose blinding light steadily increases till the noontide. ‘The perfect day’ is a somewhat unfortunate translation. What is meant is the point of time at which the day culminates, and for a moment, the sun seems to stand steady, up in those southern lands, in the very zenith, raying down ‘the arrows that fly by noonday.’ The text does not go any further, it does not talk about the sad diminution of the afternoon. The parallel does not hold; though, if we consult appearance and sense alone, it seems to hold only too well. For, sadder than the setting of the suns, which rise again to-morrow, is the sinking into darkness of death, from which there seems to be no emerging. But my second text comes in to tell us that death is but as the shadow of eclipse which passes, and with it pass obscuring clouds and envious mists, and ‘then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in their Heavenly Father’s kingdom.’
And so the two texts speak to us of the progressive brightness, and the ultimate, which is also the progressive, radiance of the righteous.
I. In looking at them together, then, I would notice, first, what a Christian life is meant to be.
I must not linger on the lovely thoughts that are suggested by that attractive metaphor of life. It must be enough, for our present purpose, to say that the light of the Christian life, like its type in the heavens, may be analysed into three beams-purity, knowledge, blessedness. And these three, blended together, make the pure whiteness of a Christian soul.
But what I wish rather to dwell upon is the other thought, the intention that every Christian life should be a life of increasing lustre, uninterrupted, and the natural result of increasing communion with, and conformity to, the very fountain itself of heavenly radiance.
Remember how emphatically, in all sorts of ways, progress is laid down in Scripture as the mark of a religious life. There is the emblem of my text. There is our Lord’s beautiful one of vegetable growth: ‘First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.’ There is the other metaphor of the stages of human life, ‘babes in Christ,’ young men in Him, old men and fathers. There is the metaphor of the growth of the body. There is the metaphor of the gradual building up of a structure. We are to ‘edify ourselves together,’ and to ‘build ourselves up on our most holy faith.’ There is the other emblem of a race-continual advance as the result of continual exertion, and the use of the powers bestowed upon us.
And so in all these ways, and in many others that I need not now touch upon, Scripture lays it down as a rule that life in the highest region, like life in the lowest, is marked by continual growth. It is so in regard to all other things. Continuity in any kind of practice gives increasing power in the art. The artisan, the blacksmith with his hammer, the skilled artificer at his trade, the student at his subject, the good man in his course of life, and the bad man in his, do equally show that use becomes second nature. And so, in passing, let me say what incalculable importance there is in our getting habit, with all its mystical power to mould life, on the side of righteousness, and of becoming accustomed to do good, and so being unfamiliar with evil.
Let me remind you, too, how this intention of continuous growth is marked by the gifts that are bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ. He gives us-and it is by no means the least of the gifts that He bestows-an absolutely unattainable aim as the object of our efforts. For He bids us not only be ‘perfect, as our Father in Heaven is perfect,’ but He bids us be entirely conformed to His own Self. The misery of men is that they pursue aims so narrow and so shabby that they can be attained, and are therefore left behind, to sink hull down on the backward horizon. But to have before us an aim which is absolutely unreachable, instead of being, as ignorant people say, an occasion of despair and of idleness, is, on the contrary, the very salt of life. It keeps us young, it makes hope immortal, it emancipates from lower pursuits, it diminishes the weight of sorrows, it administers an anaesthetic to every pain. If you want to keep life fresh, seek for that which you can never fully find.
Christ gives us infinite powers to reach that unattainable aim, for He gives us access to all His own fullness, and there is more in His storehouses than we can ever take, not to say more than we can ever hope to exhaust. And therefore, because of the aim that is set before us, and because of the powers that are bestowed upon us to reach it, there is stamped upon every Christian life unmistakably as God’s purpose and ideal concerning it, that it should for ever and for ever be growing nearer and nearer, as some ascending spiral that ever circles closer and closer, and yet never absolutely unites with the great central Perfection which is Himself.
So, brethren, for every one of us, if we are Christian people at all, ‘this is the will of God, even your perfection.’
II. Consider the sad contrast of too many Christian lives.
I would not speak in terms that might seem to be reproach and scolding. The matter is far too serious, the disease far too widespread, to need or to warrant any exaggeration. But, dear brethren, there are many so-called and, in a fashion, really Christian people to whom Christ and His work are mainly, if not exclusively, the means of escaping the consequences of sin-a kind of ‘fire-escape.’ And to very many it comes as a new thought, in so far as their practical lives are concerned, that these ought to be lives of steadily increasing deliverance from the love and the power of sin, and steadily increasing appropriation and manifestation of Christ’s granted righteousness. There are, I think, many of us from whom the very notion of progress has faded away. I am sure there are some of us who were a great deal farther on on the path of the Christian life years ago, when we first felt that Christ was anything to us, than we are to-day. ‘When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you which be the first principles of the oracles of God.’
There is an old saying of one of the prophets that a child would die a hundred years old, which in a very sad sense is true about very many folk within the pale of the Christian Church who are seventy-year-old babes still, and will die so. Suns ‘growing brighter and brighter until the noonday!’ Ah! there are many of us who are a great deal more like those strange variable stars that sometimes burst out in the heavens into a great blaze, that brings them up to the brightness of stars of the first magnitude, for a day or two; and then they dwindle until they become little specks of light that the telescope can hardly see.
And there are hosts of us who are instances, if not of arrested, at any rate of unsymmetrical, development. The head, perhaps, is cultivated; the intellectual apprehension of Christianity increases, while the emotional, and the moral, and the practical part of it are all neglected. Or the converse may be the case; and we may be full of gush and of good emotion, and of fervour when we come to worship or to pray, and our lives may not be a hair the better for it all. Or there may be a disproportion because of an exclusive attention to conduct and the practical side of Christianity, while the rational side of it, which should be the basis of all, and the emotional side of it, which should be the driving power of all, are comparatively neglected.
So, dear brethren! what with interruptions, what with growing by fits and starts, and long, dreary winters like the Arctic winters, coming in between the two or three days of rapid, and therefore brief and unwholesome, development, we must all, I think, take to heart the condemnation suggested by this text when we compare the reality of our lives with the divine intention concerning them. Let us ask ourselves, ‘Have I more command over myself than I had twenty years ago? Do I live nearer Jesus Christ today than I did yesterday? Have I more of His Spirit in me? Am I growing? Would the people that know me best say that I am growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Saviour?’ Astronomers tell us that there are dark suns, that have burnt themselves out, and are wandering unseen through the skies. I wonder if there are any extinguished suns of that sort listening to me at this moment.
III. How the divine purpose concerning us may be realised by us.
Now the Alpha and the Omega of this, the one means which includes all other, is laid down by Jesus Christ Himself in another metaphor when He said, ‘Abide in Me, and I in you; so shall ye bring forth much fruit.’ Our path will brighten, not because of any radiance in ourselves, but in proportion as we draw nearer and nearer to the Fountain of heavenly radiance.
The planets that move round the sun, further away than we are on earth, get less of its light and heat; and those that circle around it within the limits of our orbit, get proportionately more. The nearer we are to Him, the more we shall shine. The sun shines by its own light, drawn indeed from the shrinkage of its mass, so that it gives away its very life in warming and illuminating its subject-worlds. But we shine only by reflected light, and therefore the nearer we keep to Him the more shall we be radiant.
That keeping in touch with Jesus Christ is mainly to be secured by the direction of thought, and love, and trust to Him. If we follow close upon Him we shall not walk in darkness. It is to be secured and maintained very largely by what I am afraid is much neglected by Christian people of all sorts nowadays, and that is the devotional use of their Bibles. That is the food by which we grow. It is to be secured and maintained still more largely by that which I, again, am afraid is but very imperfectly attained to by Christian people now, and that is, the habit of prayer. It is to be secured and maintained, again, by the honest conforming of our lives, day by day, to the present amount of our knowledge of Him and of His will. Whosoever will make all his life the manifestation of his belief, and turn all his creed into principles of action, will grow both in the comprehensiveness, and in the depths of his Christian character. ‘Ye are the light in the Lord.’ Keep in Him, and you will become brighter and brighter. So shall we ‘go from strength to strength, till we appear before God in Zion.’
IV. Lastly, what brighter rising will follow the earthly setting?
My second text comes in here. Beauty, intellect, power, goodness; all go down into the dark. The sun sets, and there is left a sad and fading glow in the darkening pensive sky, which may recall the vanished light for a little while to a few faithful hearts, but steadily passes into the ashen grey of forgetfulness.
But ‘then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun, in their Heavenly Father’s kingdom.’ The momentary setting is but apparent. And ere it is well accomplished, a new sun swims into the ‘ampler ether, the diviner air’ of that future life, ‘and with new spangled beams, flames in the forehead of the morning sky.’
The reason for that inherent brightness suggested in our second text is that the soul of the righteous man passes from earth into a region out of which we ‘gather all things that offend, and them that do iniquity.’ There are other reasons for it, but that is the one which our Lord dwells on. Or, to put it into modern scientific language, environment corresponds to character. So, when the clouds have rolled away, and no more mists from the undrained swamps of selfishness and sin and animal nature rise up to hide the radiance, there shall be a fuller flood of light poured from the re-created sun.
That brightness thus promised has for its highest and most blessed character that it is conformity to the Lord Himself. For, as you may remember, the last use of this emblem that we find in Scripture refers not to the servant but to the Master, whom His beloved disciple in Apocalyptic vision saw, with His ‘countenance as the sun shining in his strength.’ Thus ‘we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’ And therefore that radiance of the sainted dead is progressive, too. For it has an infinite fulness to draw upon, and the soul that is joined to Jesus Christ, and derives its lustre from Him, cannot die until it has outgrown Jesus and emptied God. The sun will one day be a dark, cold ball. We shall outlast it.
But, brethren, remember that it is only those who here on earth have progressively appropriated the brightness that Christ bestows who have a right to reckon on that better rising. It is contrary to all probability to believe that the passage from life can change the ingrained direction and set of a man’s nature. We know nothing that warrants us in affirming that death can revolutionise character. Do not trust your future to such a dim peradventure. Here is a plain truth. They who on earth are as ‘the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,’ shall, beyond the shadow of eclipse, shine on as the sun does, behind the opaque, intervening body, all unconscious of what looks to mortal eyes on earth an eclipse, and ‘shall blaze out like the sun in their Heavenly Father’s kingdom.’ For all that we know and are taught by experience, religious and moral distinctions are eternal. ‘He that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv38, 39, 41, 43 world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Mat 4:8").
world kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Mat 4:8").
kingdom (See Scofield "Mat 3:2").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v40 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus finishes explaining to his disciples the parable of the field with both wheat and weeds.
Read full note →
Therefore, as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire
This can be translated in active form. AT: "Therefore, as people gather up weeds and burn them in the fire" (See: Active or Passive)
The Son of Man will send out his angels
Here Jesus is speaking of himself. AT: "I, the Son of Man, will send out my angels" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
those who commit iniquity
"those who are lawless" or "evil people"
furnace of fire
This is a metaphor for the fires of hell. If the term "furnace" is not known, "oven" can be used. AT: "fiery furnace" (See: Metaphor)
weeping and grinding of teeth
"Grinding of teeth" here is a symbolic act, representing extreme sadness and suffering. See how you translated this in Matthew 8:12. AT: "weeping and showing that they are suffering very much" (See: Symbolic Action)
shine like the sun
If this simile is not understandable in your language, you can use: "be as easy to see as the sun." (See: Simile)
Father
This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
He who has ears
This is a way of referring to everyone there who was hearing what Jesus was saying. See how you translated this in Matthew 11:15. AT: "Whoever can hear me" (See: Idiom)
listen
Here "listen" represents paying attention. See how you translated this in Matthew 11:15. AT: "pay attention to what I am saying" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
fire
world
Son of Man
angel
kingdom
sin
commit
iniquity
righteous
God the Father
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv38, 40, 41, 43 13:38 The field is the world: The Kingdom includes…
13:38 The field is the world: The Kingdom includes all nations (28:16-20). • The people of the Kingdom are those who follow Jesus (13:11-17, 23; 21:43).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.