But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Parallel translations
- WEB but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.
- BSB But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped away.
- NKJV but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
- NASB But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.
- NLT But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away.
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
While people sleep, an enemy sows weeds among the wheat and slips away.
Overview
The enemy, later identified as the devil, secretly corrupts the field. The darnel weed closely resembles wheat, making the two hard to distinguish at first. This pictures how evil is sown alongside the good within the world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Pet 5:8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
- 2 Pet 2:1But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
- Acts 20:30–31Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
- Matt 13:39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
- Rev 12:9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
- Heb 12:15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
- Matt 25:5While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
- 2 Cor 11:13–15For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
- 2 Tim 4:3–5For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
- Isa 56:9–10All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
- Rev 2:20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
- Gal 2:4And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
- Rev 13:14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 13:25 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
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