The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew13:10–17

The Purpose of Jesus’ Parables

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Matthew 13:10–17 — The Purpose of Jesus’ Parables. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

10

Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi mathētai proselthontes eipan autō Dia ti laleis autois en parabolais

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
μαθητής: a learner, disciple A learner, not yet a teacher. Poole and Pulpit both observe from Mark 4:10 that the group here is wider than the Twelve: “they that were about him with the twelve.” The circle that asks is the circle that receives; the question itself is the first evidence of the “having” of v. 12.
προσελθόντεςproselthontescame to [Jesus]G4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
προσέρχομαι: to approach, come near Aorist participle. The verb of drawing near to a person of standing. Their coming near is the physical form of what v. 11 calls a gift: they move toward the speaker while the crowd disperses. Poole reads the staying and approaching as evidence of motive, not curiosity.
εἶπανeipan[and] askedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτῷautōG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ΔιὰDiaWhyG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
διά: through, on account of With the accusative it states cause. Jesus will answer with the same preposition (13:13), so that the whole unit is framed as one question of cause and one answer of cause.
τίti. . .G5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
λαλεῖςlaleisdo You speakG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
λαλέω: to talk, to utter Present tense, habitual. λαλέω is the verb of utterance, of sound made; λέγω (v. 17) is the verb of what is laid forth in words. Matthew uses λαλέω for the parabolic speaking to the crowd and λέγω for the plain word to the disciples.
αὐτοῖςautoisto [the people]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
παραβολαῖςparabolaisparablesG3850
√ παραβολή — a similitude ("parable"), iNounDative Feminine Plural
παραβολή: a similitude, parable Dative plural: not “a parable” but a manner of speech, “in parables.” Cambridge lists four uses at once: the form is attractive to the uninstructed, it wraps a secret for the wise, it enforces the condition of all true knowledge (only the seeker finds), and it has proved itself by striking deep into common speech. The same word will be the hinge of v. 13.
11

He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho apokritheis eipen autois Hoti gnōnai ta mystēria tēs basileias tōn ouranōn dedotai Hymin de ou ekeinois dedotai

Word by word19 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheisHe repliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautois. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὍτιHotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
γνῶναιgnōnaiThe knowledgeG1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
γινώσκω: to know, by acquaintance Aorist infinitive of the verb of knowing-by-encounter. What is given is the capacity for the act. Poole, refusing to divide saving truths from non-saving ones, insists the difference between the two groups is not in the content heard but in the kind of knowing: “There is a mere notional knowledge, and there is a more effective, experimental knowledge.”
τὰtaof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
μυστήριαmystēriamysteriesG3466
√ μυστήριον — a secret or "mystery" (through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
μυστήριον: a secret, an initiate's knowledge Plural. Barnes and Ellicott agree against the modern sense: not a truth incomprehensible in itself, but one kept hidden and now disclosed to those admitted. Barnes lists what was hidden: that the gospel goes to the Gentiles, that the Jewish polity ends, that the Messiah dies. Cambridge adds Paul's own uses (Ephesians 3:3-4, 1 Corinthians 15:51, Romans 11:25). The word therefore points forward, to a secret being told, not inward to a fog.
τῆςtēsof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
βασιλείαςbasileiaskingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
βασιλεία: royalty, reign, kingdom The noun is rule before it is realm. Gill takes “kingdom of heaven” here as the gospel itself, the message about the reign. What the disciples are given is knowledge of how the reign actually comes, which the parable of the sower has just shown to be by sowing and loss, not by conquest.
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
οὐρανῶνouranōnheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Plural
δέδοταιdedotaihas been givenG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbPerfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
δίδωμι: to give Perfect passive, and the pivot of the unit. Because it is passive with no agent, the verse says what was done without saying by whom, and every commentator here supplies God. Geneva reads it strictly of election; Benson reads it of those “whose minds are divested of prejudice.” The Greek itself decides neither; it says only that the knowing is a gift already made, and that the gift is the reason for the parables.
ὙμῖνHyminto youG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οὐounotG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
οὐ: the absolute negative Flat denial, not a qualification.
ἐκείνοιςekeinoisto themG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounDative Masculine Plural
ἐκεῖνος: that one, those ones The distancing demonstrative that turns the crowd of v. 10 into a defined other party. It is the word that makes this verse hard, and no translation can make it soft.
δέδοταιdedotaiG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbPerfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
12

Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar hostis echei autō dothēsetai kai perisseuthēsetai de hostis ouk echei kai ho echei arthēsetai ap’ autou

Word by word17 · parsed
γὰρgarG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
γάρ: for, assigning a reason The single word that makes v. 12 the ground of v. 11: the giving and withholding just stated is not arbitrary but an instance of a standing law.
ὅστιςhostisWhoeverG3748
√ ὅστις — which some, iPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ὅστις: whoever, of whatever sort Indefinite and general. The saying is a rule of the divine administration, not a verdict on named persons, which is why it recurs at Matthew 25:29 attached to the talents and at Luke 19:26 to the pounds.
ἔχειecheihasG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτῷautōG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
δοθήσεταιdothēsetaiwill be given [more]G1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
δίδωμι: to give Future passive, the same verb as the perfect δέδοται of v. 11. What has already been given to the disciples will go on being given. The tense moves from settled fact to open promise.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
περισσευθήσεταιperisseuthēsetaihe will have an abundanceG4052
√ περισσεύω — to superabound (in quantity or quality), be in excess, be superfluousVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
περισσεύω: to superabound, be in excess The strong word for overflow, beyond sufficiency. Its passive future says the excess is conferred, not produced. Gill reads it of grace, light, knowledge and experience together; the Greek names no content, only the overflowing.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὅστιςhostisWhoeverG3748
√ ὅστις — which some, iPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
οὐκouk[does] notG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἔχειecheihaveG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καὶkaievenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὃhowhatG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἔχειecheihe hasG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἔχω: to hold The third occurrence of the verb in two clauses. The paradox turns on the same word meaning two things: what he does not have, and what he has. Pulpit states it plainly as a paradox; Luke's parallel eases it by writing “thinketh he hath.”
ἀρθήσεταιarthēsetaiwill be taken awayG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
αἴρω: to lift up, take away Future passive. The one verb in the unit that describes a loss, and it is not the loss of something the man never had but of “even what he has.” Ellicott ties this clause directly to the “seeing they see not” of v. 13, so that the parable itself becomes the instrument of the lifting-away.
ἀπ’ap’fromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
αὐτοῦautouhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
13

This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

touto dia lalō autois en parabolais Hoti blepontes ou blepousin Kai akouontes ouk akouousin oude syniousin

Word by word16 · parsed
τοῦτοtoutoThisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
οὗτος: this The demonstrative points backward to the law of v. 12, not forward to the quotation. Pulpit: “To carry out the principle of the whole preceding verse, but with special reference to the second half of it.”
διὰdiais whyG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
λαλῶlalōI speakG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisto themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
παραβολαῖςparabolaisparablesG3850
√ παραβολή — a similitude ("parable"), iNounDative Feminine Plural
παραβολή: a similitude, parable The word returns from v. 10, now as answer rather than question. Between the two occurrences stand the giving, the withholding and the law of increase, so that the parable is defined by what it does to two kinds of hearer at once. Henry states the double effect exactly.
ὍτιHotiThoughG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ὅτι: because, that The conjunction on which the whole problem of this unit turns, since Mark and Luke write ἵνα in its place. Read as “because,” the parables are a response to existing blindness; read as “in order that,” they are the means of deepening it. The Verifier records Mark 4:12 as a verbally linked parallel, so the difference is a real difference of wording between two accounts of one saying, not a difference of source.
βλέποντεςblepontesseeingG991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
βλέπουσινblepousinthey do not seeG991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
βλέπω: to look at Present indicative after the present participle. Gill distinguishes the two acts concretely: they saw Christ with the bodily eye and the miracles with it, but did not see, or would not acknowledge, what the miracles proved.
ΚαὶKai[though]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀκούοντεςakouonteshearingG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἀκούουσινakouousinthey do not hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀκούω: to hear The most common verb in the unit (398 verses across the New Testament), and here used against itself. Gill again: they heard the sound of the voice and not the words, and “nor were they concerned to know the meaning of them.”
οὐδὲoude[or]G3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iConjunction
συνίουσινsyniousinunderstandG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
συνίημι: to put together, to comprehend The third and climactic negation, and the only one without a matching participle: seeing and hearing they still do not assemble. It is this verb, not sight or hearing, that Matthew will use in 13:23 to mark the fruitful soil, and that Paul will use at Acts 28:26-27 when he applies the same Isaiah lines at Rome.
14

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autois hē prophēteia Ēsaiou anaplēroutai hē legousa akousete Akoē kai ou mē synēte Kai blepsete blepontes kai ou mē idēte

Word by word21 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῖςautoisIn themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
προφητείαprophēteiaprophecyG4394
√ προφητεία — prediction (scriptural or other)NounNominative Feminine Singular
προφητεία: prediction, prophecy Not “the prophet” but the prophecy, the spoken oracle itself, treated as an agent that fills itself up in a generation. The words come from Isaiah 6:9-10, the commission given at the throne vision, which Cambridge notes is “part of the mission of Isaiah”: the hardening was the prophet's job description before it was this crowd's verdict.
ἨσαΐουĒsaiouof IsaiahG2268
√ Ἡσαΐας — Hesaias (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀναπληροῦταιanaplēroutaiis fulfilledG378
√ ἀναπληρόω — to completeVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
ἀναπληρόω: to fill up completely Rare (6 verses). Its other uses are ordinary: filling a place (1 Corinthians 14:16), filling up what was lacking in service (Philippians 2:30, 1 Corinthians 16:17), fulfilling the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2), filling up the measure of sins (1 Thessalonians 2:16). The picture is a vessel brought to the brim, which is why the present tense matters: the filling is happening, not finished. Barnes puts the logic carefully: the words were fulfilled in Isaiah's own day, and here a case occurred that corresponded to their meaning.
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
λέγουσαlegousaG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
ἀκούσετεakouseteYou will be ever hearingG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbFuture Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ἀκούω: to hear Future indicative. The Hebrew of Isaiah has imperatives (“hear ye indeed”); the Greek of the Septuagint turns them into futures, and Matthew quotes the Greek. Gill defends the change from the Septuagint, the Chaldee paraphrase and Jewish commentators, who allow that the Hebrew may be so understood. This is a real textual shift, and it softens the command to harden into a prediction of hardening.
ἈκοῇAkoē. . .G189
√ ἀκοή — hearing (the act, the sense or the thing heard)NounDative Feminine Singular
καὶkaibutG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐouneverG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
συνῆτεsynēteunderstandingG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
συνίημι: to put together Aorist subjunctive under the double negative. The same verb as 13:13 and 13:15, and the one Paul will fire at Rome (Acts 28:26-27) as the last word of Acts on Israel.
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
βλέψετεblepseteyou will be ever seeingG991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
βλέποντεςblepontes. . .G991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaibutG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐouneverG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
μὴmē. . .G3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
ἴδητεidēteperceivingG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
ὁράω: to see, to attend to A different verb from βλέπω in the same line: they will β-see and by no means ὁ-perceive. English must use one root twice. The pair returns in v. 17, where the prophets longed ἰδεῖν what the disciples βλέπετε.
15

For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar hē toutou tou laou kardia Epachynthē Kai ēkousan bareōs tois ōsin Kai ekammysan autōn tous ophthalmous Mē pote idōsin tois ophthalmois Kai akousōsin tois ōsin Kai synōsin tē kardia Kai epistrepsōsin Kai iasomai autous

Word by word35 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
τούτουtoutouthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounGenitive Masculine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
λαοῦlaoupeople’sG2992
√ λαός — a people (in generalNounGenitive Masculine Singular
καρδίαkardiaheartG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
καρδία: the heart, the inner self Cambridge: “The heart was regarded as the seat of intelligence.” So the thickened heart is a dulled mind, not a cold affection. The word frames the verse: heart, ears, eyes on the way down; eyes, ears, heart on the way back. Pulpit quotes Bengel on the order, that corruption runs from the heart out to the senses and health returns through the senses to the heart.
ἘπαχύνθηEpachynthēhas grown callousG3975
√ παχύνω — to thicken, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
παχύνω: to thicken, to fatten Aorist passive, the theological crux of the unit. The Greek says the heart was thickened and does not say by whom. Poole's whole comment is an attempt to hold the two sides: Matthew names the proximate cause, the people's own sin; Isaiah, Luke, John and Paul name the higher and remoter cause, the judicial act of God that follows it.
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἤκουσανēkousanthey hardly hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
βαρέωςbareōs. . .G917
√ βαρέως — heavily (figuratively)Adverb
βαρέως: heavily An adverb, not an adjective: they heard heavily. Benson's gloss is exact: “they hear heavily, or with heavy ears, like persons half asleep.” BSB's “they hardly hear” is idiomatic and drops the weight in the word.
τοῖςtoiswith [their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
ὠσὶνōsinearsG3775
√ οὖς — the ear (physically or mentally)NounDative Neuter Plural
ΚαὶKaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκάμμυσανekammysanthey have closedG2576
√ καμμύω — to shut down, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καμμύω: to shut down, to close Active, aorist, and theirs. This is the one act in the verse that no reading can assign to God, which is why Benson fastens on it. Gill, who otherwise holds a doctrine of judicial blindness, still says the hardness was “partly brought upon themselves by their own wilfulness and obstinacy.”
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ὀφθαλμοὺςophthalmouseyesG3788
√ ὀφθαλμός — the eye (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
Μή‿MēOtherwiseG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
ποτεpote. . .G4219
√ πότε — interrogative adverb, at what timeConjunction
ἴδωσινidōsinthey might seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
τοῖςtoiswith [their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
ὀφθαλμοῖςophthalmoiseyesG3788
√ ὀφθαλμός — the eye (literally or figuratively)NounDative Masculine Plural
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀκούσωσινakousōsinhearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
τοῖςtoiswith [their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
ὠσὶνōsinearsG3775
√ οὖς — the ear (physically or mentally)NounDative Neuter Plural
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
συνῶσινsynōsinunderstandG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
συνίημι: to put together Fourth occurrence in three verses, here in the list of what the healing would have restored. Understanding is named as a possible act of the heart, not of the ear or eye.
τῇtēwith [their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
καρδίᾳkardiaheartsG2588
√ καρδία — the heart, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ΚαὶKaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπιστρέψωσινepistrepsōsinturnG1994
√ ἐπιστρέφω — to revert (literally, figuratively or morally)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπιστρέφω: to turn back, revert Aorist subjunctive. The prophetic verb for repentance as a physical reversal of direction, the Greek standing where Isaiah's Hebrew has the verb Poole renders “convert.” It stands second from last, after seeing, hearing and understanding and before healing, so the oracle lays out a chain: the senses open, the heart assembles what they bring, the whole person turns, and only then comes the cure. Pulpit refuses “should be converted” for it because that phrase “has acquired too technical a meaning,” and the plainer “turn again” keeps the bodily picture the verb actually carries.
ΚαὶKaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἰάσομαιiasomaiI would healG2390
√ ἰάομαι — to cure (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Middle1st Person Singular
ἰάομαι: to cure Future middle, and the only first person verb in the whole citation. Barnes: “Sin is often represented as a disease,” and the pardon and recovery of the soul from sin is, in his reading, the healing meant. Gill notes that Mark's parallel writes “and their sins should be forgiven them,” and that the Targum and Kimchi read Isaiah's healing as pardon. The last word of the hardest passage in the unit is an offer.
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
16

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de makarioi Hymōn hoi ophthalmoi hoti blepousin kai ta hymōn ōta hoti akouousin

Word by word13 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
μακάριοιmakarioiblessed [are]G3107
√ μακάριος — supremely blestAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
μακάριος: supremely blest The beatitude formula. Placed here, after the Isaiah oracle, it does not congratulate the disciples on cleverness. Ellicott is careful about this: they “might see but dimly, and be slow of heart to understand,” yet their eyes looked for light. The blessing is on the organ that is open, not on its acuity.
ὙμῶνHymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ὀφθαλμοὶophthalmoieyesG3788
√ ὀφθαλμός — the eye (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Plural
ὀφθαλμός: the eye The word from 13:15, where the eyes were shut down. Here they are simply called blessed. Gill collects rabbinic parallels for the idiom, including “blessed are the eyes that so see” from the Talmud, so the form of words was familiar praise for those who had grasped a hidden thing.
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
βλέπουσινblepousinthey seeG991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
ὦταōtaearsG3775
√ οὖς — the ear (physically or mentally)NounNominative Neuter Plural
οὖς: the ear Neuter plural, again taken straight from the citation of v. 15, where the ears heard heavily. The four organs of the oracle (heart, ears, eyes) are reduced here to two, and the heart is not mentioned: what is praised is reception, and v. 17 will show what was received.
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἀκούουσινakouousinthey hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀκούω: to hear Present indicative. Pulpit raises a real question about the ground of the blessing: whether the disciples see because grace was given, or the grace was given because of earlier faithfulness. He prefers the second, on the strength of v. 12; Geneva and Gill would take the first, on the strength of v. 11. The Greek ὅτι states the fact and does not settle the order.
17

For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar amēn legō hymin hoti polloi prophētai kai dikaioi epethymēsan idein ha blepete kai ouk eidan kai akousai ha akouete kai ouk ēkousan

Word by word23 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἀμὴνamēntrulyG281
√ ἀμήν — properly, firm, iHebrew Word
ἀμήν: firm, verily Transliterated Hebrew, and in the Gospels placed before a saying rather than after it, which is unparalleled in Jewish usage: the speaker underwrites his own words in advance. Here it guarantees a claim about the whole history of prophecy.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
πολλοὶpolloimanyG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
προφῆταιprophētaiprophetsG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounNominative Masculine Plural
προφήτης: a foreteller Ellicott calls the prophets of Israel “emphatically men of desires.” Gill names candidates from the tradition: Abraham (John 8:56), Jacob, David, Solomon, Isaiah. Poole runs the longing back to Genesis 3:15. The claim of the verse is not that they saw nothing but that they did not see this.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δίκαιοιdikaioirighteous [men]G1342
√ δίκαιος — equitable (in character or act)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
δίκαιος: equitable, righteous Paired with prophets, so the two classes are those who knew God's plans and those who kept his standard. Neither qualification secured the sight now given to fishermen in a boat, which is the sting in the beatitude of v. 16.
ἐπεθύμησανepethymēsanlongedG1937
√ ἐπιθυμέω — to set the heart upon, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπιθυμέω: to set the heart upon The verb of strong desire, used in the New Testament for coveting as often as for holy longing. Ellicott connects the same feeling to the “searching diligently” of 1 Peter 1:10 and the “desire for a better country” of Hebrews 11:16, and he handles the apparent clash with John 8:56 honestly: seeing the distant prospect does not exclude but rather implies the desire to arrive.
ἰδεῖνideinto seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Infinitive Active
ἃhawhatG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
βλέπετεblepeteyou seeG991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
βλέπω: to look at Present tense against the aorists of the prophets' longing. The whole unit turns on tense here: they longed and did not see; you are seeing, now.
καὶkai[but]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
εἶδανeidandid not see [it]G3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀκοῦσαιakousaito hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
ἃhawhatG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἀκούετεakoueteyou hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
καὶkai[but]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἤκουσανēkousandid not hear [it]G191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀκούω: to hear The last word of the unit is the verb that has run through it from v. 13, and it ends on a negative: “did not hear it.” The blessing of v. 16 is defined by a deprivation that lasted centuries.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The question asked in the pause — 13:10

⚙ The unit begins in a gap. The parable of the sower has ended, the crowd on the shore is still there, and a group comes near. Ellicott places the scene precisely: “They, it would seem, were with our Lord in the boat. The parable was ended, and then followed a pause.” Poole and Pulpit, reading Mark 4:10, widen the group beyond the Twelve to “they that were about him with the twelve,” and Poole reads their staying as evidence of motive rather than curiosity. Their question is Διὰ τί, “on account of what,” and Jesus will answer with διὰ τοῦτο, “on account of this”: the unit is one question of cause and one answer of cause, and the English “Why / This is why” keeps the sense while losing the matched pair. Benson explains why the question arose at all: parabolic teaching was common to Jewish doctors and to the wise men of the East, but “this way of teaching had in it somewhat of obscurity,” and so they ask why he has chosen the veil. JFB goes further and dates the method: in his judgment this is the first formal use of it, and it began only after the miracles had been ascribed to Satan. That last connection is JFB's own, drawn from the order of Matthew's chapters rather than stated by Matthew.

ii. Given, and not given: the perfect tense and the standing law — 13:11-12

⚙ The answer does not begin with parables at all. It begins with a perfect passive: δέδοται, “it has been given and stands given,” spoken twice, once affirmed to “you” and once denied to “those ones.” Ellicott supplies the agent the Greek withholds: “it has been given, as by the special act of God.” Pulpit adds that Ὑμῖν stands first in the Greek, so the antithesis is sharper than English word order allows. What is given is not information but an act: γνῶναι, an aorist infinitive, to come to know. Poole builds his whole comment on that verb, refusing the tidy division between saving truths plainly given and lesser truths given to a few: “There is a mere notional knowledge, and there is a more effective, experimental knowledge.” On the noun itself Barnes and Ellicott agree against the modern ear: a μυστήριον is not an incomprehensible truth but a concealed one now told to the initiated, and Barnes lists the contents (the gospel to the Gentiles, the end of the Jewish polity, the death of the Messiah). JFB adds the double function: parables “serve the double purpose of revealing and concealing.”

⚙ Verse 12 then supplies the ground, opening with γάρ: the giving is not caprice but an instance of a standing rule. Ellicott hears a proverb in it, with “the ring of a proverb applicable, in its literal meaning, to the conditions of worldly prosperity,” and ties it to the Talents and the Pounds. JFB extends it to a general law of habit in the moral, intellectual and even animal world, which is an extension well beyond the text. Geneva refuses all softening and reads the whole from election: “The gift of understanding and faith is given only to the elect.” Benson reads the same words the opposite way, of those who improve what they have. The Greek itself is quieter than both: three passive verbs with no agent named (shall be given, shall be made to overflow, shall be lifted away) and one bare verb “has” with no object at all. The silence about the object is what makes the saying portable, and it is why the same line can attach to talents in Matthew 25 and to hearing in Luke 8.

iii. Because, or in order that: Isaiah in the mouth of Jesus — 13:13-15

⚙ Matthew writes Ὅτι, “because”; Mark 4:12 and Luke 8:10 write ἵνα, “in order that.” The Verifier confirms Mark 4:12 as a verbally linked parallel through the shared, relatively rare συνίημι, so this is one saying carried in two wordings, not two sayings. Pulpit states the difference cleanly: in the parallels the blindness is the effect of the parables, in Matthew it is the reason for them, and “Parables are themselves the punishment; the people are fit for nothing else.” Barnes calls the difference formal rather than real and adds a motive of prudence: had Christ stated these truths plainly to the Jews, “they would have taken his life long before they did.” Ellicott insists Matthew must still be read with the penal force of Mark, since only so does the clause answer to “from him shall be taken away even that which he hath” in v. 12, yet he finds mercy underneath the penalty, because a parable “could, at all events, do men no harm” and might set men questioning. Henry, writing on the block as a whole, gives the same double effect: the things of God made plainer to the willing and more obscure to “those who were willingly ignorant.”

⚙ Then Isaiah 6:9-10 is quoted, and quoted from the Septuagint (so Ellicott, JFB and Pulpit alike). Three things move in the quotation. The verb is ἀναπληροῦται, a rare compound (6 verses in the New Testament) in the present tense: Ellicott, “complete fulfilment, but the tense is that of a work still in progress.” The Hebrew imperatives of Isaiah (“make the heart of this people fat”) have become Greek futures, a shift Gill defends from the Septuagint, the Chaldee paraphrase and Kimchi. And the grammar of v. 15 changes voice mid-sentence: the heart was thickened (passive, ἐπαχύνθη), but the eyes they shut down (active, ἐκάμμυσαν). Benson fastens on exactly that: “Observe, they themselves have done it, not God.” Poole, who sets Matthew beside Isaiah, John 12:40 and Romans 11:8, gives the most careful account of the tension in this unit: “Matthew seemeth to speak of the more proximate cause; Isaiah, Luke, John, and Paul of the higher but remoter cause.” Barnes locates the whole cause in the will: the reason they did not understand “is, that their heart was wrong.” JFB says they were “judicially sealed up under the darkness and obduracy which they deliberately preferred.” All of these are readings; what the Greek supplies is one passive with no agent, one active with a plain agent, and a last clause in the future indicative with a first person subject: “and I shall heal them.”

iv. Blessed eyes, and the centuries of longing — 13:16-17

⚙ Verse 16 is built out of the vocabulary of the curse with the negatives taken out. Eyes and ears, the organs shut and heavy in v. 15, are now simply called blessed, and μακάριοι stands first with no verb, the Sermon on the Mount's own form. Ellicott keeps the praise honest: they “might see but dimly, and be slow of heart to understand,” but their eyes looked for light. Cambridge is drier: “The disciples have discernment to understand the explanation which would be thrown away on the uninstructed multitude.” Gill shows the idiom was current, quoting the Talmud's “blessed are the eyes that so see,” so the form of words was recognised praise for grasping a hidden thing. Pulpit raises the one real question: are they blessed because grace was given (v. 11), or was grace given because of earlier faithfulness (v. 12)? He prefers the second; Geneva and Gill would take the first. The causal ὅτι states the fact and leaves the order open.

⚙ Verse 17 then measures the blessing against history. The oath word ἀμὴν, left untranslated Hebrew, underwrites it. ἐπεθύμησαν is stronger than “longed”: JFB, “rather, coveted.” Ellicott's image is the best thing in the unit: “Each stood, as it were, on a Pisgah height, and looked on the vision of a land which he was not to enter,” and he resolves the apparent clash with John 8:56 (“Abraham rejoiced to see My day”) by noting that a joy in the distant prospect implies rather than excludes the desire to arrive. Poole traces the desire back to Genesis 3:15 and forward to Simeon and Anna; Benson notes Luke's parallel has “kings” where Matthew has “righteous men”; Gill names Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon and Isaiah. The unit therefore ends where it began, with seeing and hearing, but the last word is a negative in the aorist: they did not hear it. The blessing is defined by the length of the wait.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text. The hardest thing in this unit is not the doctrine of election; it is the grammar. In one sentence Matthew writes a passive with no agent (the heart was thickened) and an active with a plain agent (their eyes they shut down), and he will not let either one swallow the other. The commentators here nearly all resolve the strain in one direction: Geneva and Gill toward decree, Benson and Barnes toward will, Poole toward a sequence in which the sinful act comes first and the judicial act follows. Poole's is the most careful, but even Poole is supplying an order the sentence does not state.

⚙ What the sentence does state is stranger and, I think, more important. The whole unit is governed by a giving already completed before anybody asked a question (δέδοται, perfect), and it ends with a healing stated in the plain future by a speaker who says “I” (ἰάσομαι). Between them stands a law that sounds merciless (v. 12) and a veil that sounds punitive (v. 13). But notice who is inside the boat. The disciples do not qualify as the perceptive; they are the ones who came near and asked. Their question is the first evidence of the “having” that gets more. And notice what the parable actually does to the crowd: it withholds, but it does not end the conversation. Ellicott saw this and put it well, that beneath the penalty runs an element of mercy, because a parable cannot provoke the fury that plain speech provoked, and it might set a man questioning. A riddle keeps a door propped open that an ultimatum would slam.

⚙ So I read the parables here as neither a reward for the clever nor a sentence on the dull, but as the form God's word takes when it must go on being spoken to people who have stopped listening: obscure enough not to be trampled, plain enough to be asked about. The line below is my own synthesis and not Scripture.

A parable is a door that opens only inward: it will not push, but it yields to anyone who asks what is behind it.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The commission at the throne, quoted at the shore structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Matthew 13:14-15 cites Isaiah 6:9-10 in full, and 13:13 paraphrases the same lines. Cambridge notes what is easy to miss: “The words form part of the mission of Isaiah,” that is, the hardening was the prophet's job description spoken at his call, before it was ever a verdict on this crowd. Poole quotes the Hebrew as it stands (“Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes”) and observes that the imperatives make God the cause, where Matthew's “this people's heart is waxed gross” names the people's own act; his solution is that Matthew gives the proximate cause and Isaiah the remoter. Ellicott notes how often these particular lines return in the New Testament (here, John 12:40, Acts 28:26), “as though the words which sounded at the very opening of Isaiah's prophecy as the knell of the nation's life, dwelt on the minds of the Master and His disciples.” Matthew quotes the Septuagint, which has turned Isaiah's imperatives into futures; Gill defends that rendering from the Chaldee paraphrase and from Kimchi.

Isaiah 6:9 · Isaiah 6:10

basis: An explicit formula quotation (ἡ προφητεία Ἠσαΐου ἀναπληροῦται) of Isaiah 6:9-10, but the link is cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and the Verifier returns no verbal basis. Tiered structural rather than verbal for that reason, not because the citation is in doubt: Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit all identify the source, and all note that Matthew follows the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew.

The same verdict, spoken last in Acts verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The Verifier's strongest candidate for this unit is Acts 28:26-27, where Paul, under house arrest in Rome, recites the identical Isaiah lines to the Jewish leaders as his closing word. The shared vocabulary is not generic: συνίημι (G4920) occurs in only 25 verses in the New Testament and appears twice in the Acts verse and three times in this unit; βλέπω and ἀκούω run with it. Both passages are quoting the same Greek text of Isaiah, which is why the wording matches so closely. Gill draws the line himself, citing Acts 28:26 and adding that the judicial blindness “was to go on among them, until the land of Judea was utterly destroyed by the Romans.” What Jesus says from a boat at the start of the Gospel story, Paul says from a rented room at the end of Acts.

Acts 28:26 · Acts 28:27

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4920 συνίημι (rare, in 25 vv), G991 βλέπω (in 117 vv), G191 ἀκούω (in 398 vv). Both passages are Greek and both recite the same Septuagint lines of Isaiah 6:9-10, so the verbal agreement is direct and not an accident of common vocabulary. The refs are New Testament to New Testament, so no cross-Testament restriction applies.

The same answer in Mark and Luke, with one conjunction changed verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Mark 4:12 and Luke 8:10 carry this exchange in nearly the same words, and the Verifier records the shared lexemes. One word differs and it is the load-bearing one: Matthew has ὅτι, “because they seeing see not,” where Mark and Luke have ἵνα, “that seeing they may see and not perceive.” Barnes says Matthew states the fact and Mark and Luke the intention, “but there is no difference.” Pulpit disagrees that it is nothing: in the parallels the blindness is the effect of the parables, in Matthew the reason for them. JFB harmonises through v. 12: by a fixed law, “the duty men voluntarily refuse to do, and in point of fact do not do, they at length become morally incapable of doing.” Luke 8:10 also supplies the singular “mystery” in Mark against Matthew's plural, and Pulpit reports Marshall's suggestion that Luke's “the rest” and Mark's “them that are without” reflect a slight difference in one Aramaic word, a suggestion he calls ingenious but thinks hardly necessary.

Mark 4:12 · Luke 8:10

basis: Verifier: with Mark 4:12, shared G4920 συνίημι (rare, in 25 vv), G991 βλέπω (in 117 vv), G191 ἀκούω (in 398 vv); with Luke 8:10, shared G3850 παραβολή (in 48 vv), G3466 μυστήριον (in 27 vv), G1325 δίδωμι (in 378 vv). Two moderately rare nouns plus the rare verb make this a genuine verbal parallel of the same saying. All three refs are Greek, so the shared-lexeme basis is valid.

Paul's name for the same condition structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Poole brings Romans 11:8 into this unit deliberately: “God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear.” It is Paul's own summary of the state Matthew describes, and it puts the giving on the other side of the ledger: in Matthew 13:11 something is given to the disciples, in Romans 11:8 something is given to those who do not see. The Verifier's shared lexemes here (δίδωμι, βλέπω) are far too common to establish a quotation, so the link is recorded as thematic; Paul is there conflating Deuteronomy and Isaiah rather than citing Isaiah 6 as Matthew does. The value of the pairing is that Paul, who states the hardening in its most active form, also states in the same chapter that it is partial and temporary.

Romans 11:8

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1325 δίδωμι (in 378 vv, twice) and G991 βλέπω (in 117 vv). Both are among the most common verbs in the New Testament, so the overlap carries no evidential weight on its own and cannot support a verbal tier. The real link is a shared motif of judicial blindness, attested by Poole, who cites Romans 11:8 in his comment on these verses.

Filling up: a rare verb and its four other homes verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Matthew does not use his usual πληρόω for this fulfilment but the compound ἀναπληρόω (G378), which occurs in only six New Testament verses. Its other uses are strikingly ordinary and physical: filling the place of the unlearned (1 Corinthians 14:16), supplying what was lacking in service (Philippians 2:30, 1 Corinthians 16:17), and fulfilling the law of Christ by bearing burdens (Galatians 6:2). The exception is 1 Thessalonians 2:16, where the sense is grim and close to this one: to fill up the measure of sins always. Pulpit cross-refers our verse to that passage. The picture the verb gives is of a vessel being brought to the brim, which is why Ellicott's note on the present tense matters so much: the filling is in progress, not complete.

1 Thessalonians 2:16 · Galatians 6:2 · Philippians 2:30

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G378 ἀναπληρόω, rare at 6 verses in the whole New Testament (1 Thessalonians 2:16 also shares G2980 λαλέω, in 273 vv). The rarity of the lexeme is what carries the tier; no quotation is claimed in either direction, only a genuine and narrow verbal link between the few passages that use this compound. All refs are Greek.

Understanding as the mark of the good soil verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The verb συνίημι is negated three times in this unit (13:13, 13:14, 13:15). A few verses later Matthew uses it twice more, and both times positively: the seed by the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom and does not put it together (13:19), and the good soil is the one who hears and does put it together (13:23). The interpretation of the sower, in other words, is built from the vocabulary of the Isaiah oracle. That is why this unit sits where it does: the explanation of the parable in 13:18-23 is not a change of subject from 13:10-17 but the same argument in agricultural terms. Matthew uses the verb again at 15:10 when he calls the crowd to hear and understand.

Matthew 13:19 · Matthew 13:23 · Matthew 15:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4920 συνίημι (rare, in 25 vv, appearing twice in each of Matthew 13:23 and 15:10), with G191 ἀκούω (in 398 vv) and, at 13:19, G932 βασιλεία (in 154 vv). A rare lexeme repeated within one evangelist and one discourse; all refs are Greek and in the same book, so no cross-Testament restriction applies. No quotation is claimed, only deliberate verbal repetition.

The proverb of increase, attached elsewhere to the talents structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The saying of 13:12 recurs almost verbatim at Matthew 25:29, as the conclusion of the parable of the talents, and at Luke 19:26 in the parable of the pounds. Cambridge simply notes the cross-reference; Pulpit says the closing phrase here (“and he shall have more abundance,” found only in Matthew) is probably a reminiscence of the later form; Ellicott says the proverb “teaches the same lesson as that which we afterwards find developed in the parables of the Talents and the Pounds”; JFB observes that the saying “appears to have been uttered by our Lord on more than one occasion, and in different connections.” In Matthew 25 the thing had and lost is a sum of money; here it is left with no object at all, which is why the same words can do both jobs.

Matthew 25:29 · Luke 19:26

basis: Not a Verifier-computed link: neither Matthew 25:29 nor Luke 19:26 appears in the thread candidates for this unit, so no shared-lexeme basis is recorded here and the tier cannot be verbal on the Verifier's evidence. The basis is instead the commentators' own cross-reference of a repeated dominical saying: Cambridge, Pulpit, Ellicott and JFB each identify Matthew 25:29 (and JFB and Pulpit also Luke 19:26) as the same words in another setting.

Isaiah saw his glory: a figural reading of the throne vision typological

⚙ Gill argues that this prophecy refers to the days of the Messiah on one particular ground: “that Esaias foretold those things when he saw the glory of the Messiah, and spake of him, John 12:40.” John, citing the same Isaiah lines, adds “These things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory, and he spake of him.” Read that way, the one who speaks from the boat in Matthew 13 is the one enthroned in Isaiah 6, and the oracle is not being applied to a new case but returning to its author. Poole notes that John and Isaiah put the hardening in God's hand where Matthew puts it in the people's, which makes the identification theologically costly as well as neat. This is an old and widely held reading, resting on John's own statement rather than on any verbal feature of Matthew.

John 12:40 · Isaiah 6:1

basis: A figural identification of the speaker of Matthew 13 with the LORD of the Isaiah 6 throne vision, resting on John 12:40-41 and cited in this form by Gill. The Isaiah ref is cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme can support it and no verbal tier is possible. Ancient and widely held rather than novel, but it is a reading of the texts together, not a claim made by Matthew.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one who withholds the word is the one who spoke it first ancient/widely-held

⚙ Matthew has Jesus quote Isaiah's commission as a word now being filled up in his own hearing. Gill presses the identification further, on John's authority: Isaiah spoke those words “when he saw the glory of the Messiah, and spake of him, John 12:40.” If that is right, the Isaiah citation in this unit is not a preacher borrowing an old text for a new audience but the original speaker resuming his own sentence after seven centuries. It also explains a grammatical oddity: the quotation ends in the first person future, ἰάσομαι, “and I shall heal them,” and in Matthew's setting that “I” is spoken aloud by a man in a boat. The reading is ancient and widely held, resting on John 12:40-41 rather than on anything Matthew states.

John 12:40 · Isaiah 6:9 · Isaiah 6:10

The healing that the hardening was meant to prevent ancient/widely-held

⚙ The last clause of the hardest sentence in the unit is not a curse but an offer withheld: “and turn, and I would heal them.” Barnes reads the metaphor in its standard biblical sense: “Sin is often represented as a disease,” and pardon as its cure. Gill notes that Mark's parallel writes “and their sins should be forgiven them,” and that the Targum and Kimchi read Isaiah's healing as pardon outright. Matthew has already used Isaiah's language of healing for Christ's own work, citing Isaiah 53:4 at Matthew 8:17. So the verb that closes the oracle names exactly what Christ came to do, and the tragedy of 13:15 is not that healing was unavailable but that the eyes were shut against the sight that leads to it. Ellicott's summary of the state described here is the ignorance of those “who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (John 3:19).”

Matthew 8:17 · Isaiah 53:4 · John 3:19

What the prophets wanted to see ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 17 makes an extraordinary claim in passing: the content of the prophets' desire, across the whole Old Testament, was something the disciples are now looking at. It does not say they longed for a doctrine, a kingdom or a date; it says they longed to see what you see. Poole runs that desire back to the first promise, Genesis 3:15, and forward to Simeon and Anna; Gill names Abraham (John 8:56), Jacob, David, Solomon and Isaiah; Barnes cites Hebrews 11:13 and 1 Peter 1:10-12, where the prophets search their own writings for the time the Spirit of Christ in them was signifying. Ellicott's Pisgah image holds the disappointment and the joy together: each stood on a height and looked on a land he was not to enter. The person standing in front of the disciples is therefore identified as the object of every earlier longing, which is the strongest christological claim in the unit and the one most plainly made by the text itself.

Hebrews 11:13 · 1 Peter 1:10-12 · John 8:56

The teacher who speaks in the form his hearers can still receive novel

⚙ A quieter christological point runs under the whole unit. The parables are described by Pulpit as themselves the punishment, and by Ellicott as containing, beneath the penalty, an element of mercy, since a parable could do men no harm and might set them thinking and questioning, which Ellicott counts as at least one step toward the having of v. 12. Henry says the same two-edged thing about the method: plainer to the willing, more obscure to the willingly ignorant. Read with 13:35, where Matthew will say the parables open what has been hidden from the foundation of the world, the picture is of a teacher who does not stop speaking when he stops being heard, but changes register: he goes on sowing on the path and among the thorns. That is a claim about the character of the one speaking, not just about his technique, and I offer it as a reading rather than as a settled doctrine.

Matthew 13:35 · Matthew 13:3

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Text and translation. The base text is the BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering supplied in the brief. The Old Testament citation in 13:14-15 follows the Septuagint of Isaiah 6:9-10, as Ellicott, JFB and Pulpit each state; the Hebrew there has imperatives (“make the heart of this people fat”) where the Greek has futures and an aorist passive, and this difference, not any doctrine, is the origin of most of the disagreement among the commentators quoted here. John 12:40, citing the same passage, is closer to the Hebrew.

⚙ What is genuinely uncertain in this unit. (1) Whether Matthew's ὅτι in 13:13 is causal or is to be read with the force of Mark's and Luke's ἵνα: Barnes says the difference is only one of statement, Pulpit says it is a real difference of emphasis, Ellicott says Matthew must be read with Mark's penal sense. We have not resolved this and do not think it can be resolved from the Greek alone. (2) Whether Ὅτι in 13:11 is recitative (Pulpit, and BSB, which prints no “because”) or causal. (3) Whether the μήποτε clause in 13:15 states God's purpose or merely expands the preceding verse; Pulpit sets out both and prefers the second. (4) Pulpit records a variant first person reading ἐπεθύμησα at 13:17, which would make the longing Christ's own; he reports it as attributed to others (Westcott, Resch) and does not adopt it, and neither do we.

⚙ Sources. Ten public-domain commentators are quoted: Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, JFB, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit. Three cautions about them. Matthew Henry's entry in this brief is a single note on the whole block 13:1-23, not a verse-by-verse comment, so his words are quoted as a general statement of his view of the parabolic method. Poole's comments on 13:12 and on 13:14-15 are carried in the brief in capped form and we have not read the omitted remainder; the sentences quoted are complete as they stand. JFB's entry for 13:14 is repeated verbatim under 13:15 in the source. Geneva's notes here are short doctrinal glosses in the Reformed tradition and state conclusions (election, the just judgment of God) that the Greek of v. 11 does not itself state; we have flagged that in the editorial note rather than suppress the voice.

⚙ Thread bases. Every verbal tier above rests on a Verifier-computed shared lexeme with its frequency named. Two links are deliberately not tiered verbal: Isaiah 6:9-10 and John 12:40 with Isaiah 6:1, because a Greek-to-Hebrew pair cannot share a Strong's number and no verbal basis can be computed, however certain the citation is. One thread (Matthew 25:29, Luke 19:26) rests on the commentators' cross-reference alone, with no Verifier basis, and its badge says so. The christological reading titled “The teacher who speaks in the form his hearers can still receive” is marked novel because, while each of its components is attested here, the synthesis of them is ours.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)