Parable (from a Greek word signifying comparison) is used in the Bible in both the wide and a narrow sense. In the first case it comprises all forms of teaching by analogy, and all forms of figurative speech, and is applied to metaphors, whether expanded into narratives, Ezekiel 12:22, or not, Matthew 24:32; to proverbs and other short sayings, 1 Samuel 10:12; 1 Samuel 24:13; 2 Chronicles 7:20; Luke 4:23; to dark utterances or signs of prophetic or symbolical meaning. Numbers 23:17-18; Numbers 24:3; Ezekiel 20:49; Hebrews 9:9, etc. In the second case it means a short narrative of some every-day event, by which some great spiritual truth is conveyed to the hearer. For list of parables of Christ see Appendix.