Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, August 3rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

马太福音 13:8

有的落在好土裡,結出果實,有一百倍的,有六十倍的,有三十倍的。

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Agriculture;   Converts;   Jesus, the Christ;   Jesus Continued;   Minister, Christian;   Obedience;   Sermon;   Sower;   Word of God;   Scofield Reference Index - Kingdom;   Parables;   Thompson Chain Reference - Degrees of Fruitfulness;   Fruit, Spiritual;   Fruitfulness;   Fruitfulness-Unfruitfulness;   Holy Spirit;   Righteousness;   Spiritual;   The Topic Concordance - Bearing Fruit;   Word of God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Parables;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Parables;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Fruit;   Work;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Church;   Hutchinsonians;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Matthew, the Gospel of;   Parables;   Sower;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Agriculture;   Mss;   Nature;   Parable;   Text of the New Testament;   Zechariah, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Discourse;   Doctrines;   Ear (2);   Fruit (2);   Mental Characteristics;   Numbers (2);   Parable;   Premeditation;   Progress;   Wheat;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Sower, Sowing;   1910 New Catholic Dictionary - parable;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Chief parables and miracles in the bible;   Gennesaret;   Jesus christ;   Kingdom of christ of heaven;   Kingdom of god;   Kingdom of heaven;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Agriculture;   Wheat,;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ground;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Agriculture;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Harvest;   New Testament;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for May 27;  

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
又 有 落 在 好 土 里 的 , 就 结 实 , 有 一 百 倍 的 , 有 六 十 倍 的 , 有 三 十 倍 的 。

Contextual Overview

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Large crowds gathered around him, so he got into a boat and sat down, while the people stood on the shore. 3 Then Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said: "A farmer went out to plant his seed. 4 While he was planting, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and ate it all up. 5 Some seed fell on rocky ground, where there wasn't much dirt. That seed grew very fast, because the ground was not deep. 6 But when the sun rose, the plants dried up, because they did not have deep roots. 7 Some other seed fell among thorny weeds, which grew and choked the good plants. 8 Some other seed fell on good ground where it grew and produced a crop. Some plants made a hundred times more, some made sixty times more, and some made thirty times more. 9 Let those with ears use them and listen." 10 The followers came to Jesus and asked, "Why do you use stories to teach the people?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

good: Matthew 13:23, Luke 8:15, Romans 7:18

some an: Genesis 26:12, John 15:8, Galatians 5:22, Galatians 5:23, Philippians 1:11

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 23:19 - he attained 1 Chronicles 11:21 - howbeit Psalms 85:12 - our land Isaiah 61:11 - as the earth Matthew 19:29 - an Mark 4:8 - fell Luke 8:8 - other

Cross-References

Genesis 13:2
Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.
Genesis 13:3
He left southern Canaan and went back to Bethel where he had camped before, between Bethel and Ai,
Genesis 13:6
Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together,
Genesis 13:7
so Abram's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen began to argue. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at this time.
Genesis 13:9
We should separate. The whole land is there in front of you. If you go to the left, I will go to the right. If you go to the right, I will go to the left."
Genesis 13:11
So Lot chose to move east and live in the Jordan Valley. In this way Abram and Lot separated.
Genesis 13:14
After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, "Look all around you—to the north and south and east and west.
Genesis 13:17
Get up! Walk through all this land because I am now giving it to you."
Genesis 13:18
So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at the city of Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord .
Genesis 45:24
Then Joseph told his brothers to go. As they were leaving, he said to them, "Don't quarrel on the way home."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But others fell into good ground,.... Not beaten and trodden by the feet of men, nor stony, nor thorny, but well broke up, manured, and tilled; which designs good, honest hearted hearers who become so by the Spirit and grace of God; who with a spiritual understanding, experience, savour, and relish, what they hear; see

Matthew 13:23

and brought forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold: some seeds produced an hundred, others sixty, and others thirty. The first of these especially was a large increase, but what was sometimes had, and which Isaac received in Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, Genesis 26:12 and is what Pliny says g of Byzacium, a country of the Lybiphoenicians, that it yielded an hundred fold to its husbandmen; and of such fruitfulness was the land of Israel, of which the Jewish doctors say some things incredible: they tell us a story h of

"one that sowed a measure of vetches, or pease, מאות סאין

ועשה שלש, "and it produced three hundred measures"; they say unto him, the Lord hath begun to bless thee, c.''

Here, in the parable, these various increases intend the different degrees of fruitfulness in gracious souls for though the fruits of grace, in believers, are of the same quality, yet not of the same quantity. Some believers are grown to a greater maturity than others; some are but little children, some are young men, some are fathers.

g Nat. Hist. 1. 5. c. 4. h T. Hieros. Peah, fol. 20. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In parables - The word “parable” is derived from a Greek word signifying “to compare together,” and denotes a similitude taken from a natural object to illustrate a spiritual or moral subject. It is a narrative of some fictitious or real event, in order to illustrate more clearly some truth that the speaker wished to communicate. In early ages it was much used. Pagan writers, as Aesop, often employed it. In the time of Christ it was in common use. The prophets had used it, and Christ employed it often in teaching his disciples. It is not necessary to suppose that the narratives were strictly true. The main thing - “the inculcation of spiritual truth” - was gained equally, whether it was true or was only a supposed case. Nor was there any dishonesty in this. It was well understood no person was deceived. The speaker was not “understood” to affirm the thing “literally narrated,” but only to fix the attention more firmly on the moral truth that he presented. The “design” of speaking in parables was the following:

  1. To convey truth in a more interesting manner to the mind, adding to the truth conveyed the beauty of a lovely image or narrative.
  2. To teach spiritual truth so as to arrest the attention of ignorant people, making an appeal to them through the “senses.”
  3. To convey some offensive truth, some pointed personal rebuke. in such a way as to bring it “home” to the conscience. Of this kind was the parable which Nathan delivered to David 2 Samuel 12:1-7, and many of our Saviour’s parables addressed to the Jews.
  4. To “conceal” from one part of his audience truths which he intended others should understand. Thus Christ often, by this means, delivered truths to his disciples in the presence of the Jews, which he well knew the Jews would not understand; truths pertaining to them particularly, and which he was under no obligations to explain to the Jews. See Mark 4:33; Matthew 13:13-16.

Our Saviour’s parables are distinguished above all others for clearness, purity, chasteness, importance of instruction, and simplicity. They are taken mostly from the affairs of common life, and intelligible, therefore, to all people. They contain much of “himself” - his doctrine, life, design in coming, and claims, and are therefore of importance to all people; and they are told in a style of simplicity intelligible to the child, yet instructive to people of every rank and age. In his parables, as in all his instructions, he excelled all people in the purity, importance, and sublimity of his doctrine.

Matthew 13:3

A sower went forth to sow - The image here is taken from an employment known to all people, and therefore intelligible to all.

Nor can there be a more striking illustration of preaching the gospel than placing the seed in the ground, to spring up hereafter and bear fruit.

Sower - One who sows or scatters seed - a farmer. It is not improbable that one was near the Saviour when he spoke this parable.

Matthew 13:4

Some seeds fell by the way-side - That is, the hard “path” or headland, which the plow had not touched, and where there was no opportunity for it to sink into the earth.

Matthew 13:5

Stony places - Where there was little earth, but where it was hard and rocky, so that the roots could not strike down into the earth for sufficient moisture to support the plant.

When the sun became hot they of course withered away. They sprang up the sooner because there was little earth to cover them.

Forthwith - Immediately. Not that they sprouted and grew any quicker or faster than the others, but they were not so long in reaching the surface. Having little root, they soon withered away.

Matthew 13:7

Among thorns - That is, in a part of the field where the thorns and shrubs had been imperfectly cleared away and not destroyed.

They grew with the grain, crowded it, shaded it, exhausted the earth, and thus choked it.

Matthew 13:8

Into good ground - The fertile and rich soil.

In sowing, by far the largest proportion of seed will fall into the good soil; but Christ did not intend to teach that these proportions would be exactly the same among those who heard the gospel. Parables are designed to teach some “general” truth, and the circumstances should not be pressed too much in explaining them.

An hundred-fold ... - That is, a hundred, sixty, or thirty “grains” for each one that was sowed an increase by no means uncommon. Some grains of wheat will produce twelve or fifteen hundred grains. The usual proportion on a field sown, however, is not more than twenty, fifty, or sixty bushels for one.

Matthew 13:9

Who hath ears ... - This is a proverbial expression, implying that it was every man’s duty to pay attention to what was spoken, Matthew 11:15.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Matthew 13:8. Good ground — Where the earth was deep, the field well ploughed, and the brambles and weeds all removed. See more on Matthew 13:18, c., and see on Luke 8:15.

Some a hundred-fold. — For the elucidation of this text, I beg leave to introduce the following experiment. In 1816 I sowed, for a third crop, a field with oats, at Millbrook, in Lancashire the grains weighed, on an average, 3/4 of a grain each. One grain produced three stalks with three ears: the largest had 68 grains in it, the second 26, and the third 25.

Whole number of grains 119, which together

weighed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 grs

The root separately, after washing and

drying, weighed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1/2

The stalks and remaining leaves (for many

had perished in the wet season) . . . . . 630 1/2

-------

Weight of the whole produce of one grain

of oats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 grs. which was 725 times and one quarter more than the original weight.

The power of grain to multiply itself, even in the same year, is a subject as much of curiosity and astonishment as of importance and general utility. For the farther elucidation of this text, I shall give the following example from a practice in agriculture, or rural economy, which is termed filtering.

On the 2nd of June, 1766, Mr. C. Miller, of Cambridge, sowed some grains of the common, red wheat; and on the 8th of August a single plant was taken up, and separated into 18 parts, and each planted separately: these plants having pushed out several side shoots, about the middle of September some of them were taken up and divided; and the rest between that time and October. This second division produced 67 plants. These plants remained through the winter, and another division of them, made between the middle of March and the 12th of April, produced 500 plants. They were divided no farther, but permitted to remain in the field. These plants were in general stronger than any of the wheat in the field. Some of them produced upwards of 100 ears from a single root and many of the ears measured seven inches in length, and contained between sixty and seventy grains. The whole number of ears produced from the single plant was 21,109, which yielded three pecks and three-quarters of clear corn, weighing 47lbs. 7oz., and, from a calculation made by counting the grains in an ounce, the whole number of grains was about 576,840. Mr. Miller thinks that, had he made a second division in the spring, the number of plants would have amounted to 2000. Who can help admiring the wisdom and providence of God in this single grain of corn! He has, in some sort, impressed on it an idea of his own infinity; and an idea which, like the subject to which it refers, confounds our imagination and reason. How infinitely great is God, even in his minor works.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile