Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
13:2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.
13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.
13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
13:5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.
13:6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
13:7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
13:8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
13:9 Let anyone with ears listen!”
13:18 “Hear then the parable of the sower.
13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
13:20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
13:21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
13:22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
13:23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
1 Ἐν δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐξελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τῆς οἰκίας ἐκάθητο παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν·
2 καὶ συνήχθησαν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὄχλοι πολλοί, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς πλοῖον ἐμβάντα καθῆσθαι, καὶ πᾶς ὁ ὄχλος ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν εἱστήκει.
3 Καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς πολλὰ ἐν παραβολαῖς λέγων·
4 ἰδοὺ ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι. καὶ ἐν τῷ σπείρειν αὐτὸν ἃ μὲν ἔπεσε παρὰ τὴν ὁδόν, καὶ ἐλθόντα τὰ πετεινὰ κατέφαγεν αὐτά·
5 ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη, ὅπου οὐκ εἶχε γῆν πολλήν, καὶ εὐθέως ἐξανέτειλε διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν βάθος γῆς,
6 ἡλίου δὲ ἀνατείλαντος ἐκαυματίσθη, καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ρίζαν ἐξηράνθη·
7 ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀκάνθας, καὶ ἀνέβησαν αἱ ἄκανθαι καὶ ἀπέπνιξαν αὐτά·
8 ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν καὶ ἐδίδου καρπὸν ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, ὃ δὲ ἐξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα.
9 Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω.
18 Ὑμεῖς οὖν ἀκούσατε τὴν παραβολὴν τοῦ σπείραντος.
19 Παντὸς ἀκούοντος τὸν λόγον τῆς βασιλείας καὶ μὴ συνιέντος, ἔρχεται ὁ πονηρὸς καὶ αἴρει τὸ ἐσπαρμένον ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν σπαρείς.
20 Ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη σπαρείς, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων καὶ εὐθέως μετὰ χαρᾶς δεχόμενος καὶ λαμβάνων αὐτόν·
21 οὐκ ἔχει δὲ ρίζαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλὰ πρόσκαιρός ἐστι, γενομένης δὲ θλίψεως ἢ διωγμοῦ διὰ τὸν λόγον εὐθὺς σκανδαλίζεται.
22 Ὁ δὲ εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας σπαρείς, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων καὶ ἡ μέριμνα τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου καὶ ἡ ἀπάτη τοῦ πλούτου συμπνίγει τὸν λόγον, καὶἄκαρπος γίνεται.
23 Ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν σπαρείς, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὸν λόγον ἀκούων καὶ συνιῶν· ὃς δὴ καρποφορεῖ καὶ ποιεῖ ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, ὃ δὲ ἑξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα.
Comments
A parable based on the imagery of sowing, thriving and its opposite.
[3] ἐν παραβολαῖς: a παραβολή is a ‘comparison’. Aristotle in the Rhetoric (1393b 3 ff.) treats of the parable as a type of example that operates by inductive logic. It an invented example drawn from real life. Aristotle cites a parable in the form of a well-known anecdote about Socrates: ‘When asked whether magistrates should be selected by lot, Socrates replied that this would be like choosing a competent athlete or the captain of ship by lot.’ Perhaps religious parables can be read in an Aristotelian manner. Modern preachers, too, avail themselves of examples drawn from realistic situations.
[4] ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι: σπείρω c. acc. = ‘I sow (seed)’. Cf. Engl. sporadic, sperm.
τοῦ σπεῖραι, an articular infin. in the genitive, denotes purpose (a final infin.); σπεῖραι = aor. infin. < σπείρω.
τὰ πετεινὰ κατέφαγεν αὐτά: πετεινόν, neut. = ‘bird’ (< πέτομαι, ‘I fly’). κατέφαγεν, 2nd aor. < κατεσθίω (κατά + ἐσθίω), ‘I eat up, devour, gobble up (or down)’, the preverb κατ- intensifying the verb (‘to eat’).
[5] ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη, ὅπου οὐκ εἶχε γῆν πολλήν: Matthew uses neuter pronouns, e.g. ἄλλα in reference to the implied ‘seed’ (σπόρος, σπέρμα) sown. τὰ πετρώδη, ‘the rocky or stony bits’, is used substantively (< πέτρα, f., ‘rock’, already in Homer; cf. Engl. petrify). τὰ πετρώδη refers to the rocky subsoil typical of Palestine.
The Athenian speaker in Plato, Laws 8. 838e-839a uses the image of sowing seed on rocks in condemning male homosexuality as wasteful: μηδ᾽ εἰς πέτρας τε καὶ λίθους σπείροντας, οὗ μήποτε φύσιν τὴν αὑτοῦ ῥιζωθὲν λήψεται γόνιμον (‘nor sowing seed on rocks and stones where it can never take root and have fruitful increase’).
εὐθέως ἐξανέτειλε: ἐξανέτειλε, aor. < ἐξανατέλλω, intr., ‘spring up’. εὐθέως, ‘straightaway’ (cf. εὐθύς, adj.). The seeds sprout at once.
[6] ἡλίου δὲ ἀνατείλαντος ἐκαυματίσθη: ἡλίου δὲ ἀνατείλαντος, a temporal genitive absolute (participle) < ἀνατέλλω, ‘rise’. Note the related ἐξανέτειλε and ἀνατείλαντος: the grain crop and the sun alike ‘spring up’. The particle δὲ =’but’.
ἐκαυματίσθη < καυματίζομαι, pass. voice, ‘I am burnt up’ (LSJ), ‘scorched’. Cf. καῦμα, neut., ‘burning heat, esp. of the sun’ (LSJ). Also cf. Engl. caustic.
[7] ἀπέπνιξαν αὐτά: ἀπoπνίγω, ‘I choke, throttle’ someone or something (cl. Gr.).
[8] ἄλλα δὲ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τὴν καλὴν καὶ ἐδίδου καρπὸν ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, ὃ δὲ ἐξήκοντα, ὃ δὲ τριάκοντα: the three relative clauses introduced by ὃ have a distributive function, and refer to the neuter ‘the other (seeds)’. The enumeration falls from 100 to 60 to 30 in a gradation (κλιμακωτόν, κλῖμαξ).
[9] Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω: ὦτα, neuter pl. < οὖς, ‘ear’; cf. Engl. otology. ἀκούω, ‘Ι hear, listen,’ (cf. Engl. acoustics). In general this vb means ‘I come to know’ (Exeg. Dict. NT, p. 52, s.v.). Besides the sensation of hearing Jesus prob. means some other, deeper process contingent on the listener’s good will and openness to his (divine) message.
[19] Παντὸς ἀκούοντος τὸν λόγον τῆς βασιλείας καὶ μὴ συνιέντος: ἀκούοντος = genitive absolute (temporal or conditional). ‘To hear’ is used here in the limited sense of hearing. μὴ συνιέντος < συνίημι, ‘I understand, comprehend’, e.g. something spoken to me (cl. Gr.). See v. 23.
[20] εὐθέως μετὰ χαρᾶς: ‘straightaway with joy’; εὐθέως was used in v. 5, εὐθέως ἐξανέτειλε (‘straightaway it sprouted forth’). If one reacts with immediate joy one is superficial just as the seed that sprouts in superficial rocky soil. The word χαρά is first attested in Sappho.
[21] πρόσκαιρός ἐστι: ‘momentary, transitory’ (koine); hence (I would add), ‘variable, fickle’.
[22] συμπνίγει τὸν λόγον: συμπνίγω, an emotive compound = ‘choke’ (a koine vb). Cf. v. 7, ἀπέπνιξαν αὐτά (the thorns throttled the seed). To ‘choke or suffocate’ the logos about the kingdom is apt, for speech relies on breath. Seed or a crop in turn can ‘choke’ as it is living and hence can also be figuratively ‘suffocated’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 