It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Parallel translations
- WEB It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”
- BSB It is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”
- NKJV It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
- NASB It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three sata of flour until it was all leavened.”
- NLT It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The kingdom is like yeast a woman hides in flour until all is leavened. God's reign works invisibly but thoroughly to transform.
Overview
A small amount of leaven permeates the whole batch, picturing how the kingdom spreads silently through the world and the human heart. Though hidden and unseen at first, its effect is comprehensive and unstoppable. The parable assures disciples that the gospel's quiet working will achieve God's full purpose.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 13:33Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
- 1 Cor 5:6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
- Jas 1:21Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
- John 15:2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
- Phil 1:9–11And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
- Prov 4:18But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
- Phil 1:6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
- 1 Th 5:23–24And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- John 4:14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
- Job 17:9The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
- Hos 6:3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
- Ps 92:13–14Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 13:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.