The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
Parallel translations
- KJV The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
- BSB and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
- NKJV The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
- NASB and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
- NLT The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.
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 enemy is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Behind earthly evil stands a real adversary, and behind history a coming judgment.
Overview
Jesus completes the key to the parable: Satan is the enemy sowing evil, the harvest is the consummation of the age, and angels are the reapers. This affirms a personal devil opposing God's work and a definite end to the present order. Believers are reminded that current ambiguity will give way to a decisive, divinely appointed reckoning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Matt 13:49So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,
- Rev 14:15–19Another 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 reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!”
- Matt 25:31“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.
- Joel 3:13Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
- Rev 19:20The 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 mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
- 2 Th 1:7–10and 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,
- Rev 13:14He 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 on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived.
- Rev 12:9The 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 down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
- Matt 13:25but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.
- Matt 24:3As 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 your coming, and of the end of the age?”
- Eph 6:11–12Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
- Heb 9:26or 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 away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
- 1 Pet 5:8Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Matt 28:20teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- 2 Cor 11:3But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
- 2 Cor 2:17For 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 Cor 11:13–15For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
- Eph 2:2in 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 in the children of disobedience;
- 2 Th 2:8–11Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;
- Matt 13:28“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
- Dan 7:10A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
- Jude 1:14About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones,
- Rev 20:7–10And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison,
- Rev 20:2–3He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 13:39 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.