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Matthew13:36–43

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

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Matthew 13:36–43 — The Parable of the Weeds Explained. 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.

36

Then Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tote apheis tous ochlous ēlthen eis tēn oikian Kai autou hoi mathētai prosēlthon autō legontes Diasaphēson hēmin tēn parabolēn tōn zizaniōn tou agrou

Word by word23 · parsed
ΤότεToteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
ἀφεὶςapheis[Jesus] dismissedG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
aphiēmi: to send away, leave, release Aorist participle, subordinate to the main verb: the letting go of the crowd is the condition of the private teaching. The same verb in this Gospel carries the weight of remission of debts and of sins, so the choice is not merely logistical; Matthew uses the word of releasing what one holds.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ὄχλουςochlouscrowdsG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἦλθενēlthen[and] wentG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
οἰκίανoikianhouseG3614
√ οἰκία — properly, residence (abstractly), but usually (concretely) an abode (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
oikia: house, dwelling The house answers the boat of 13:1. Ellicott suggests the house of Peter. Matthew's architecture is deliberate: the parables are spoken from the water to the crowd, the interpretation is given indoors to the disciples.
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
προσῆλθονprosēlthoncameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
proserchomai: to come to, approach Aorist indicative. The Verifier records the same lexeme at 13:27, where the servants approach the householder about the darnel, and at 24:3, where the disciples approach privately about the end of the age. The approach in this verse sits between those two.
αὐτῷautōto HimG846
√ 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
λέγοντεςlegontes[and] saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΔιασάφησονDiasaphēsonExplainG1285
√ διασαφέω — to clear thoroughly, iVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
diasapheō: to make thoroughly clear A very rare verb: the Verifier counts it in two verses of the New Testament, this one and Matthew 18:31, where fellow servants lay a matter fully before their lord. Pulpit observes that, compared with the commoner φράσον, it leaves room for the disciples having already partly understood. They do not ask what the story was; they ask that it be carried all the way through.
ἡμῖνhēminto usG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Plural
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
παραβολὴνparabolēnparableG3850
√ παραβολή — a similitude ("parable"), iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Plural
ζιζανίωνzizaniōnweedsG2215
√ ζιζάνιον — darnel or false grainNounGenitive Neuter Plural
zizanion: darnel, false grain A rare noun, eight verses in all, every one of them in this chapter. The whole point of the plant is counterfeit: it is indistinguishable from wheat in the blade. Poole and Gill both read the darnel as false professors within the visible church rather than the openly profane outside it.
τοῦtouin theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀγροῦagroufieldG68
√ ἀγρός — a field (as a drive for cattle)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
agros: a field Genitive of the darnel. The field is named before Jesus defines it in v. 38, and the definition when it comes will be wider than the disciples expect.
37

He replied, “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho apokritheis eipen Ho speirōn to kalon sperma estin ho Huios tou anthrōpou

Word by word14 · 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
apokrinomai: to give answer Aorist passive in form, active in force. Gill hears in it a courtesy: “being very ready to answer their request... showing great condescension.”
εἶπενeipenG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὉHoThe [One]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
σπείρωνspeirōnwho sowsG4687
√ σπείρω — to scatter, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
speirō: to scatter seed Present participle with the article, a timeless agent noun. Ellicott presses exactly this tense: if the Son of Man has been the Light that lightens every man (John 1:9), then he had been sowing the good seed in the wider field of the world from the beginning, and all who followed after righteousness had been children of the kingdom.
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
καλὸνkalongoodG2570
√ καλός — X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
σπέρμαspermaseedG4690
√ σπέρμα — something sown, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
sperma: seed, that which is sown JFB marks the shift from the parable of the sower: there the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11), here the word has already been received and has converted the receiver into a new creature, a son of the kingdom. The same image is doing different work two parables later.
ἐστὶνestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
huios: son The title-word here will be the category-word in v. 38 (sons of the kingdom, sons of the evil one) and the title-word again in v. 41. Matthew lets one lexeme carry both the Christology and the anthropology of this explanation.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
anthrōpos: man, human being In the genitive it completes the only Christological title in the whole explanation, and Matthew places it at both ends: it is the first predicate given (v. 37) and the first subject of the judgment (v. 41), so that the sower and the sender are named identically. Ellicott, at v. 39, ties the designation to the apocalyptic visions of Daniel, where the name of the Son of Man is first identified with the future Christ and the Messianic kingdom is brought into new distinctness in connection with a final judgment. That is the weight this genitive carries: not a modest self-effacement but the title under which this man will send angels and purge a kingdom he calls his own.
38

The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho agros estin ho kosmos de to kalon sperma houtoi eisin hoi huioi tēs basileias de ta zizania eisin hoi huioi tou ponērou

Word by word24 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀγρόςagros[The] fieldG68
√ ἀγρός — a field (as a drive for cattle)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κόσμοςkosmosworldG2889
√ κόσμος — orderly arrangement, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
kosmos: orderly arrangement, world The widest word available, and Jesus chooses it for the field. Gill: not only the land of Judea where Christ preached in person, but the whole world into which the apostles were afterwards sent. JFB adds the note that this vast field is said to be Christ's own, “His field,” and points to Psalm 2:8, where the nations are given to the Son as inheritance.
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
καλὸνkalon[the] goodG2570
√ καλός — X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthyAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
σπέρμαspermaseedG4690
√ σπέρμα — something sown, iNounNominative Neuter Singular
οὗτοίhoutoirepresentsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Plural
houtos: this one, these The gender break. A neuter seed is resumed by masculine persons, which is the grammar of the whole parable: what is sown is a word, what grows is people.
εἰσινeisin. . .G1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
υἱοὶhuioisonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Plural
huios: son The same noun that titled Christ in v. 37 now sorts humanity in two directions. Matthew will not let the reader hold the title and the category apart.
τῆςtēsof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
βασιλείαςbasileiaskingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
basileia: royal rule, kingdom Here the sons belong to it; in v. 41 the offences are gathered out of it; in v. 43 the righteous shine in it, and it is called the Father's. The one lexeme moves through three possessors in six verses.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
ζιζάνιάzizania[The] weedsG2215
√ ζιζάνιον — darnel or false grainNounNominative Neuter Plural
zizanion: darnel Defined at last: not error in the abstract but persons. Ellicott resists the older identification of the darnel with heretics and sends the reader to v. 41 for the true definition, all stumbling-blocks and all who work lawlessness.
εἰσινeisinareG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
υἱοὶhuioisonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Plural
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
πονηροῦponērouevil [one]G4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Singular
ponēros: hurtful, evil Genitive of source or of belonging. Gill reads the darnel as professors whose principles and practice show whose children they are, and judges them more scandalous to Christ's interest than the openly immoral, precisely because they stand inside the field.
39

and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho echthros ho speiras auta estin ho diabolos de ho therismos estin synteleia aiōnos de hoi theristai eisin angeloi

Word by word20 · parsed
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐχθρὸςechthrosenemyG2190
√ ἐχθρός — hateful (passively, odious, or actively, hostile)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
echthros: hateful, hostile JFB reads the article with emphasis from v. 25: “His enemy,” and sends the reader to Genesis 3:15 and 1 John 3:8. The enmity is personal and old.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
σπείραςspeiraswho sowsG4687
√ σπείρω — to scatter, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
speirō: to sow (aorist) The tense is the argument. The enemy's work in this parable is a completed deposit that then takes time to show its character; JFB: his dark work soon done, but taking time to develop its true character.
αὐτάautathemG846
√ 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 Neuter 3rd Person Plural
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
διάβολοςdiabolosdevilG1228
√ διάβολος — a traducerAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
diabolos: traducer, slanderer Ellicott finds here the most distinct recognition of a personal power of evil, the enemy of God thwarting his work. Poole, reading the same clause, stresses the limit of that power: the devil has power to seduce, persuade and allure, but none to force.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
θερισμὸςtherismosharvestG2326
√ θερισμός — reaping, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
therismos: reaping, harvest The harvest here is not the mission harvest of Matthew 9:37 but the assize. Pulpit notes the contrast with those human workers: the reapers now are such beings as angels.
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
συντέλειαsynteleia[the] endG4930
√ συντέλεια — entire completion, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
synteleia: entire completion A rare noun, six verses. Cambridge lists them: here, vv. 40 and 49 of this chapter, Matthew 24:3, Matthew 28:20, and Hebrews 9:26, and nowhere else in the New Testament. Every Matthean occurrence is on the lips of Jesus or spoken to him, which makes the phrase a small closed idiom rather than a general apocalyptic commonplace.
αἰῶνόςaiōnosof the ageG165
√ αἰών — properly, an ageNounGenitive Masculine Singular
aiōn: an age The word is temporal, not spatial. What ends is a period, and Pulpit adds what the Greek implies: when the present age has received its completion, the more glorious one is ushered in.
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
θερισταὶtheristai[the] harvestersG2327
√ θεριστής — a harvesterNounNominative Masculine Plural
εἰσινeisinareG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἄγγελοίangeloiangelsG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounNominative Masculine Plural
angelos: messenger JFB presses the possessive from v. 41: whose angels are they? The Son of Man will send forth his angels. He cites 1 Peter 3:22, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
40

As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oun Hōsper ta zizania syllegetai kai katakaietai pyri houtōs estai en tē synteleia tou aiōnos

Word by word15 · parsed
οὖνounvvvG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
ὭσπερHōsperAsG5618
√ ὥσπερ — just as, iAdverb
hōsper: just as, even as The strengthened comparative particle opens a formal simile that houtōs in the same verse closes. The structure is the hinge of the whole explanation: what was description up to v. 39 becomes prediction from here.
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
ζιζάνιαzizaniaweedsG2215
√ ζιζάνιον — darnel or false grainNounNominative Neuter Plural
συλλέγεταιsyllegetaiare collectedG4816
√ συλλέγω — to collectVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
syllegō: to collect, gather up A rare verb, eight verses, and the Verifier finds it in this chapter at v. 29, where the householder forbids the gathering, and at v. 41, where the angels perform it. The same act is prohibited to the servants now and commanded to the reapers then. That is the parable's whole ethic in one lexeme.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κατακαίεταιkatakaietaiburnedG2618
√ κατακαίω — to burn down (to the ground), iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
katakaiō: to burn down completely Present passive. Benson insists on what the prefix says and on what it does not: destruction, not annihilation, complete and eternal, without hope of restoration. Gill hears behind the image the ordinary use of field refuse as furnace fuel.
πυρὶpyriin the fireG4442
√ πῦρ — "fire" (literally or figuratively, specially, lightning)NounDative Neuter Singular
pyr: fire Instrumental dative. Pulpit compares Matthew 3:10, the Baptist's tree cast into fire, so that the image is already fixed in this Gospel before the parable uses it.
οὕτωςhoutōssoG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
ἔσταιestaiwill it beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἐνenatG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
συντελείᾳsynteleiaendG4930
√ συντέλεια — entire completion, iNounDative Feminine Singular
synteleia: completion The second of three occurrences in this chapter (vv. 39, 40, 49). Here it takes the article and a preposition: en tē synteleia, at the completion, a point in time at which the simile lands.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
αἰῶνοςaiōnosageG165
√ αἰών — properly, an ageNounGenitive Masculine Singular
41

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ho Huios tou anthrōpou apostelei autou tous angelous kai syllexousin ek autou tēs basileias panta ta skandala kai tous poiountas tēn anomian

Word by word22 · parsed
ὁhoTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀποστελεῖaposteleiwill send outG649
√ ἀποστέλλω — set apart, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apostellō: to set apart and send Future indicative. Ellicott catches the scale of the claim: the one who stood before men outwardly as the carpenter's son speaks of the angels of God and of the kingdom as alike his. Benson makes the same observation from the other side, that Christ here represents the holy angels as his attendants who at his order assemble the whole world before him.
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀγγέλουςangelousangelsG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
συλλέξουσινsyllexousinthey will weedG4816
√ συλλέγω — to collectVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
syllegō: to gather up The forbidden verb, now commanded. Within eight chapters of Greek the same rare lexeme is refused to the servants (v. 29) and given to the reapers. The parable does not say the darnel is tolerable; it says the gathering is not the servants' office.
ἐκekout ofG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
βασιλείαςbasileiaskingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
basileia: kingdom Christ's kingdom here, the Father's in v. 43. Pulpit raises the question the two verses force: whether the Lord is already hinting at 1 Corinthians 15:24, the delivering up of the kingdom to the Father. Gill reads the same difference and comes to the same place, that the ultimate glory may be styled the kingdom of the Father without excluding the Son.
πάνταpantaeveryG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
σκάνδαλαskandalacause of sinG4625
√ σκάνδαλον — a trap-stick (bent sapling), iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
skandalon: trap-stick, snare The word is mechanical before it is moral: the trigger of a trap. Pulpit sets out the two readings, that the phrase and the next name two aspects of the same persons (stumbling-blocks to others, workers of lawlessness before God), or that the first names their acts and the second the persons, and he prefers the former as closer to the parable.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοὺςtousall whoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ποιοῦνταςpoiountaspracticeG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Plural
poieō: to make, do Present participle: those who are doing it, a settled practice, not a single lapse. Gill sharpens it into character: such as do nothing else but iniquity, and are doing iniquity in and while professing religion.
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἀνομίανanomianlawlessnessG458
√ ἀνομία — illegality, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
anomia: illegality, lawlessness Not vice in general but life outside law. Pulpit observes that the Greek of this clause matches the Septuagint of Psalm 37:1, and asks whether Paul's ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας in 2 Thessalonians 2 has its basis in the Lord's own teaching here.
42

And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai balousin autous eis tēn tou pyros kaminon ekei estai ho klauthmos kai ho brygmos tōn odontōn

Word by word17 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
βαλοῦσινbalousinthey will throwG906
√ βάλλω — to throw (in various applications, more or less violent or intense)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ballō: to throw, hurl Future active, with the angels as subject. Gill notes the agency without softening it: the same messengers who gather the wheat into the barn cast the bundles into the fire.
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ 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
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
τοῦtouvvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
πυρόςpyrosfieryG4442
√ πῦρ — "fire" (literally or figuratively, specially, lightning)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
pyr: fire Genitive of material or of characteristic. Gill hears the image as drawn from burning field refuse for furnace fuel and notes that the rabbinic sources he cites compared Gehenna to a furnace, quoting the Jerusalem Targum at Genesis 15:17.
κάμινονkaminonfurnaceG2575
√ κάμινος — a furnaceNounAccusative Feminine Singular
kaminos: a furnace Articular, therefore a definite known furnace. Ellicott identifies it with Gehenna. Barnes, who is the most cautious of the brief's voices here, refuses to decide whether material fire is meant while refusing equally to let the image be emptied.
ἐκεῖekei[where] thereG1563
√ ἐκεῖ — thereAdverb
ἔσταιestaiwill beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
κλαυθμὸςklauthmosweepingG2805
√ κλαυθμός — lamentationNounNominative Masculine Singular
klauthmos: lamentation, wailing Nine verses in all. The Verifier pairs it with βρυγμός at Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30, 13:50 and Luke 13:28. The formula is Matthew's, used at the end of five different parables and once of the sons of the kingdom cast out.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
βρυγμὸςbrygmosgnashingG1030
√ βρυγμός — a grating (of the teeth)NounNominative Masculine Singular
brygmos: a grating of the teeth The rarer half of the pair, seven verses. JFB distinguishes the two terms carefully: the wailing signifies the anguish, the gnashing the despair in which the remedilessness of it issues.
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ὀδόντωνodontōnteethG3599
√ ὀδούς — a "tooth"NounGenitive Masculine Plural
43

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

tote hoi dikaioi eklampsousin hōs ho hēlios en tē basileia tou autōn Patros Ho echōn ōta akouetō

Word by word17 · parsed
τότεtoteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
δίκαιοιdikaioirighteousG1342
√ δίκαιος — equitable (in character or act)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
dikaios: equitable in character or act Gill refuses every ground for the word except one: not righteous in their own apprehension, nor in the judgment of others, nor by obedience legal or evangelical, but made so by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. Pulpit takes the other emphasis from Matthew 5:45, that with these also the character is seen in the life. The brief holds both.
ἐκλάμψουσινeklampsousinwill shineG1584
√ ἐκλάμπω — to be resplendentVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
eklampō: to blaze out, be resplendent A hapax in the New Testament and the only new verb in the verse. The prefix says the light comes out of concealment, which is precisely JFB's reading: as if they had been under a cloud during the present association with ungodly pretenders to their character. The darnel hid the wheat; the harvest uncovers it.
ὡςhōslikeG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἥλιοςhēliossunG2246
√ ἥλιος — perhaps akin to the alternate of G138 (αἱρέομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
hēlios: the sun Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit all hear Daniel 12:3 behind the image, and Ellicott adds Proverbs 4:18, the path of the just that shines more and more. Ellicott is careful: the imagery is so natural that a source need not be assumed, and yet the judgment context of Daniel makes the echo hard to avoid.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
βασιλείᾳbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounDative Feminine Singular
basileia: kingdom The third possessor in six verses: the sons' kingdom (v. 38), his kingdom (v. 41), their Father's kingdom (v. 43). Gill treats the two as one royal rule differently named; Pulpit asks whether the sequence anticipates the handing over of the kingdom in 1 Corinthians 15:24.
τοῦtouofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
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
ΠατρὸςPatrosFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
patēr: father Ellicott names this the crowning blessing of the verse: not simply that the righteous shine, but that the kingdom in which they shine is their Father's. Pulpit notes the same preference for the Father over the Son of Man title at Matthew 26:29.
ὉHoHe whoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἔχωνechōnhasG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ὦταōtaearsG3775
√ οὖς — the ear (physically or mentally)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἀκουέτωakouetōlet him hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Imperative Active3rd Person Singular
akouō: to hear Third person present imperative, the same formula that closed the parable of the sower at v. 9. Benson passes on Macknight's reading of its force: that truths of greater importance and solemnity cannot be uttered, and that all who have the faculty of reason ought therefore to regard them with becoming attention.

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 crowd let go, the house entered, the word made thoroughly clear — 13:36

⚙ The unit begins with a release and a request. ἀφεὶς (apheis, G863) is the ordinary Greek for letting go, and Pulpit prefers the Revised Version's “he left the multitudes.” Poole, who is the harshest of the brief's voices here, reads the departure as the crowd's own: they went away “as most people do from sermons” never the wiser, “understanding nothing of what they heard, nor caring to understand it.” Ellicott reads it more gently, judging that the question was asked privately, and adding the conjecture (it is a conjecture, not a fact of the text) that the house was Peter's. What the disciples ask for is not a retelling. The verb is Διασάφησον (G1285), and Pulpit records that it occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only at Matthew 18:31, where servants lay a matter fully before their lord; as against the commoner φράσον of the Received Text, Pulpit notes, it “leaves room for the disciples having already partially understood it.” Gill makes the same point from the other side: they ask nothing about the mustard seed or the leaven, either because they understood them better, or because this parable struck them harder. Benson and Poole agree in the reason, and Benson names it: the dreadful conclusion.

ii. Seven equations, and one tense that changes everything — 13:37-39

⚙ Verses 37 to 39 are a list of identifications strung on the bare conjunction δέ, and Pulpit judges from that style that they are close translations of the Lord's own phrases, with the manner changing at v. 40. The list is not symmetrical. The sower is ὁ σπείρων, present participle; the enemy is ὁ σπείρας, aorist. Pulpit states the difference exactly: “Ver. 37 states what is ever true; ver. 39 merely refers back to the enemy spoken of in the parable.” Ellicott builds on that permanence: if the Son of Man has been the Light that lightens every man (John 1:9), he had been sowing in the wider field of the world from the beginning. JFB adds the ownership: this vast field of the world is said to be Christ's own, “His field,” and points to Psalm 2:8. On the field itself the voices divide honestly. Gill takes it as the whole world into which the apostles were sent; Benson gives both readings and prefers the narrower: “as appears from the parable itself, the church in the world is meant by the field.” The Greek κόσμος will not settle it. On the darnel, JFB supplies the botany, “not what in our husbandry is so called, but some noxious plant, probably darnel,” and Ellicott closes off the medieval identification with heretics by sending the reader to v. 41 for the true definition. And the harvest is συντέλεια αἰῶνός, which Cambridge renders “the completion of this æon, ‘the point where one æon ends and another begins,’” listing its six New Testament occurrences.

iii. The gathering forbidden to the servants, commanded to the reapers — 13:40-42

⚙ One rare verb carries the ethic of the whole parable. συλλέγω (G4816, eight verses in the New Testament) is what the householder forbids the servants at v. 29, what happens to the darnel at v. 40, and what the angels do at v. 41. The Verifier records the shared lexeme; the English hides it by translating “gather,” “are collected,” and “weed out.” Poole draws the right conclusion and states his rule for doing so: “every passage in a parable is not to be fitted by something in the explication,” and therefore no doctrine of unlimited toleration can be built on a clause the Lord himself left unexplained. JFB reaches the same limit by another road, that to stretch the parable into permission for keeping openly scandalous persons in communion is to go in the teeth of 1 Corinthians 5. Ellicott, who reads the servants as the zealous pastors of the church, draws the pastoral moral instead: the over-hasty endeavour after an ideal perfection may produce worse evils than it cures, because “by a spiritual transmutation which was not possible in the natural framework of the parable, the tares may become the wheat.” On the sentence itself the voices are not soft. Benson insists the destruction is “not their annihilation,” complete and eternal. JFB calls the language terrific in its strength, distinguishing the flinging, the furnace, the wailing and the gnashing. Barnes alone hesitates, and honestly: it is not certain that material fire is meant, but it is certain that this is a proper representation of the sufferings of the lost. Gill adds that the furnace image was the standing Jewish comparison, citing the Jerusalem Targum at Genesis 15:17.

iv. The light that was under a cloud — 13:43

⚙ The last verse contains the only new verb in the explanation. ἐκλάμψουσιν (eklampsousin, G1584) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and its prefix means the light breaks out from where it had been covered. JFB supplies the reason for the covering: as if they had been under a cloud during the present association with ungodly pretenders to their character. Pulpit takes the image further than brightness, noting that the sun's likeness lies also in “its being alone in the sky, with nothing round it to prevent its full glory being seen”: the darnel is what obscured the wheat, and the harvest does not add glory so much as uncover it. Cambridge, Ellicott and Pulpit all name Daniel 12:3 behind the words, Ellicott adding Proverbs 4:18 and the honest caution that the imagery is so natural that a source need not be assumed. Maclaren, preaching on both texts together, states the claim they share: “the most radiant thing on earth is the character of a good man... The divine estimate, which is the true one, confers the name on righteousness.” Then the possessive changes. The kingdom was the Son of Man's in v. 41; it is the Father's here. Gill and Pulpit both register the shift, and Pulpit asks whether it hints already at 1 Corinthians 15:24. The unit ends with a third person imperative, ἀκουέτω, the same form that closed the parable of the sower at v. 9: not an invitation but an order laid on whoever has the ears.

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 explanation is usually read as a lesson in patience, and it is one, but the grammar suggests the patience has a narrower object than we usually give it. The forbidden act and the commanded act are the same act, named by the same rare verb: συλλέγω at v. 29 (do not gather) and at v. 41 (they will gather). The parable never says the darnel is tolerable, and never says it is harmless; it says the gathering is not the servants' office and not the servants' hour. What is deferred is not judgment but jurisdiction. Ellicott puts the pastoral reason for the deferral in a sentence the Greek does not contain but the story permits, that the tares may become the wheat, and his caution is well placed: no natural darnel ever became wheat, which is exactly why the parable can only hint at it. Poole's rule is the safer guide, that we may argue from the main scope of a parable and not from every clause of it. And the closing verse suggests why the waiting is bearable. ἐκλάμψουσιν is a verb of light breaking out of cover, and Pulpit's observation that the sun is alone in the sky gives the reason: until the harvest, the righteous are not dim, they are obscured. If that is right, then the mixed field is not a compromise God tolerates but a condition under which faith is exercised, and the harvest reveals rather than creates. The tool holds this reading loosely: the text itself says only that a sorting is coming, that it is the Son of Man's to order, and that the ears to hear it are commanded to use themselves now.

What is deferred here is not the judgment but the jurisdiction. (This line is the tool's own synthesis, not Scripture.)

⚙

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 parable and its explanation: one rare plant, eight verses verbal / quotation: confirmed

The noun ζιζάνιον (zizanion, G2215) occurs in only eight verses of the New Testament, and every one of them is in this chapter: vv. 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 36, 38, 40. The explanation is therefore locked to its parable by vocabulary and not merely by context. The Verifier also records συλλέγω (G4816, eight verses) shared between v. 29, where the householder forbids the servants to gather, and this unit at vv. 40 and 41, where the gathering is done. Poole warns against pressing every clause of a parable into the explanation, and it is worth noting that the Lord explains the sowing, the field, the seed, the harvest and the reapers, but never explains the sleeping servants or their forbidden request.

Matthew 13:25 · Matthew 13:26 · Matthew 13:27 · Matthew 13:29 · Matthew 13:30

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2215 ζιζάνιον (in 8 vv, all in Matthew 13), plus G4816 συλλέγω (in 8 vv) at 13:29 and G4687 σπείρω (in 42 vv) at 13:25 and G863 ἀφίημι (in 131 vv) at 13:30. A rare-lexeme verbal link within one Greek book.

“The weeping and the gnashing of the teeth”: a Matthean formula verbal / quotation: confirmed

The pair κλαυθμὸς (G2805, nine verses) and βρυγμὸς (G1030, seven verses) is a fixed formula, both nouns articular, appearing at the close of several judgment sayings. The Verifier records the shared lexemes at Matthew 8:12 (where it also records G5207 υἱός and G932 βασιλεία, the two words that make up the description given to the wheat in v. 38), at 22:13, 24:51, 25:30, at 13:50 in the parallel explanation of the dragnet, and at Luke 13:28. JFB distinguishes the halves: the wailing signifies the anguish, the gnashing “is a graphic way of expressing the despair in which its remedilessness issues.”

Matthew 8:12 · Matthew 13:50 · Matthew 22:13 · Matthew 24:51 · Matthew 25:30 · Luke 13:28

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1030 βρυγμός (in 7 vv) and G2805 κλαυθμός (in 9 vv) with G1563 ἐκεῖ (in 94 vv); at Matthew 8:12 also G5207 υἱός and G932 βασιλεία. Both rare nouns, Greek to Greek, no quotation claimed.

συντέλεια αἰῶνος: the completion of the age, six verses only verbal / quotation: confirmed

Cambridge lists the occurrences exactly: “The expression is found also in Matthew 13:40; Matthew 13:49 of this chapter, and in ch. Matthew 24:3, Matthew 28:20, and in Hebrews 9:26, ‘the completion of the æons,’ not elsewhere in N. T.” The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme G4930 at each. The idiom binds this parable's horizon to the disciples' private question on Olivet (24:3, where the Verifier also records the same προσέρχομαι and μαθηταί as in v. 36), to the last promise of the Gospel (28:20), and to Hebrews, where the completion has already arrived in the appearing of Christ.

Matthew 13:49 · Matthew 24:3 · Matthew 28:20 · Hebrews 9:26

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4930 συντέλεια (in 6 vv, rare) with G165 αἰών (in 97 vv); at 24:3 also G4334 προσέρχομαι and G3101 μαθητής; at Hebrews 9:26 also G2889 κόσμος. All New Testament Greek, an idiom shared, not a citation.

διασαφέω: the two verses where a matter is made thoroughly clear verbal / quotation: confirmed

The disciples' verb in v. 36 occurs in only two verses of the New Testament. The other is Matthew 18:31, where the fellow servants of the unforgiving debtor, seeing what was done, “told unto their lord” all that had happened; Pulpit glosses it as bringing the behaviour “fully before their lord's knowledge.” The lexical coincidence is small but pointed: in both places something already half seen is carried all the way to the one with authority over it. The tool notes the parallel without claiming Matthew intended a cross-reference.

Matthew 18:31

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1285 διασαφέω (in 2 vv), the rarest link in this unit's candidate list. Same book, same author, no quotation involved.

“Shall shine as the sun”: Daniel's firmament and Solomon's dawn structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge sets the parallel directly: “Cp. Daniel 12:3, ‘Then they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.’” Pulpit calls it “an undoubted reference to the substance of Daniel 12:3,” and Poole judges the expression “much like that of Daniel 12:2,3.” Ellicott adds Proverbs 4:18, the path of the just that shines more and more, and is the most careful of the four: “The imagery is so natural that we hardly need to look for any reference to older teaching.” Maclaren preaches the two texts as one, taking Daniel, Deborah's song and this verse together. The link is real but it is not a quotation: Matthew's ἐκλάμψουσιν and ὡς ὁ ἥλιος do not reproduce the Septuagint of Daniel, and Daniel's own image is the firmament and the stars, not the sun.

Daniel 12:3 · Proverbs 4:18

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and no verbal tier is available. The recorded basis is the shared eschatological motif of the righteous shining at the judgment, named independently by Cambridge, Pulpit, Ellicott and Poole. Matthew's wording (sun) differs from Daniel's (firmament, stars), so no quotation is claimed.

“All stumbling-blocks and those doing lawlessness”: a contested Old Testament source flagged: verify source

Pulpit argues that the phrase of v. 41 is drawn partly from Zephaniah 1:3 in the Hebrew, where God says he will consume “the stumbling blocks with the wicked,” noting that the Hebrew verb there “would readily lend itself to the interpretation ‘gather,’” and partly from Psalm 37:1, since “the Greek of them that do iniquity is the same as in the LXX. there.” The second half of that claim is a checkable Septuagint agreement; the first half rests on a conjectural rendering of a Hebrew verb, and Pulpit is the only voice in this brief to make it. The tool records the suggestion and flags it rather than adopting it.

Zephaniah 1:3 · Psalm 37:1

basis: Provenance contested and singly attested. Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and no verbal tier is possible in any case. The Psalm 37:1 half rests on a Septuagint verbal agreement asserted by Pulpit; the Zephaniah 1:3 half rests on Pulpit's own conjectural gloss of the Hebrew verb as “gather.” Verify both against the Septuagint and the Masoretic text before citing.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Sower is the Son of Man, and the field is His own ancient/widely-held

⚙ The first equation of the explanation is Christological, and its tense is the argument: ὁ σπείρων is a present participle, a standing description. Ellicott draws the consequence: if the Son of Man has been “the Light that lighteth every man” (John 1:9), then he had been sowing the good seed in the wider region of the world from the beginning, and all who followed after righteousness had been children of the kingdom. JFB adds the ownership that the parable quietly assumes and the English quietly passes over: “this vast field of the world is here said to be Christ's own, ‘His field,’” and sends the reader to Psalm 2:8, where the nations are given to the Son for his inheritance. Gill takes the same title back to Genesis 3:15, naming the Son of Man “the seed of the woman; and the son of David.” The one who is sowing is the one who owns the ground and who was promised to it.

Matthew 13:37 · Psalm 2:8 · John 1:9 · Genesis 3:15

His angels, His kingdom: the Danielic Son of Man as Judge ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 41 claims three things at once in a single future indicative: the angels are his to send (ἀποστελεῖ, the verb of commissioned sending), the kingdom is his to purge, and the sorting is his to order. Ellicott registers the scale: “The vision of One who stood before men outwardly as the carpenter's son stretches forward to the far future, and sees that the angels of God and the kingdom are alike His.” Benson asks the same question in the form of wonder, what a high idea our Lord gives us of himself, representing the holy angels as his attendants who at his order assemble the whole world before him. Ellicott traces the title's background to Daniel, where the ministry of angels at the judgment is brought before men and where the name of the Son of Man is first identified with the future Christ. JFB completes the claim from 1 Peter 3:22, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. This is the apostolic reading, recorded here by Ellicott, Benson, JFB, Gill and Pulpit alike.

Daniel 7:13-14 · Matthew 25:31 · 1 Peter 3:22

The righteous blaze out because they are conformed to the light ancient/widely-held

⚙ The verb of v. 43 occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and Gill is the voice who names its Christological ground: the righteous shall shine “as Christ himself, the sun of righteousness, with whom, and in whose glory they shall appear, both in soul and body.” Gill's phrase is drawn from Malachi 4:2, and the Gospel itself supplies the pattern at the transfiguration, where Matthew says the face of Jesus shone as the sun. The glory of v. 43 is therefore derivative, not native: the righteous blaze out with the light of the one whose face already did. Maclaren, preaching on this verse with Proverbs 4:18, insists that the increase of that brightness is “the natural result of increasing communion with, and conformity to, the very fountain itself of heavenly radiance.” The tool notes honestly that Matthew 13:43 does not itself name Christ as the source; the connection is drawn by Gill and Maclaren from the wider canon, and is offered on that footing.

Malachi 4:2 · Matthew 17:2 · Proverbs 4:18

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)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • 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 Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. Two readings matter here. At v. 36 the brief's Greek reads Διασάφησον, and Pulpit records that the Received Text reads φράσον instead (as at Matthew 15:15); the exegetical point about the rare verb depends on the reading printed in the Berean interlinear, and a reader using a Received Text edition will not find it. At v. 42 the Revised Version restores the Greek articles (“the furnace,” “the wailing”) that the older English dropped; Ellicott and Pulpit both note it.

Sources. Of the eleven authors in the brief, Henry's entry at every verse of this unit is his note on 13:31 to 35, the mustard seed and the leaven, and so says nothing about the darnel explanation; it is not quoted here, and readers should know that its absence is a fact about the source and not a judgment on Henry. Geneva's entries are largely the verse text itself with the heading “EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)”; the single substantive gloss, at v. 37, is quoted. Barnes prints one composite note across vv. 36 to 43 rather than separate comments, so a single excerpt from it stands for the whole. Poole's notes at vv. 37 to 39 and 40 to 43 are grouped, and his cross-references (“See Poole on Matthew 13:39”) are pointers, not separate comments. Maclaren's entry is a sermon on Proverbs 4:18 with this verse as second text; his capped entry runs far beyond the excerpt used.

What is uncertain. Three things. First, whether the field is the world or the church in the world: Benson gives both and prefers the second, Gill takes the first, and the Greek κόσμος does not decide it. Second, whether τὰ σκάνδαλα in v. 41 names persons or their acts: Pulpit sets out both answers and prefers the first, and the neuter plural is genuinely ambiguous. Third, whether Pulpit's proposed source in Zephaniah 1:3 stands; it is flagged in the threads above rather than adopted. On the nature of the fire, Barnes declines to decide and this synthesis follows him: the text asserts a furnace, wailing and gnashing, and does not describe their physics.

What the machine added. Every divergence, note, movement, thread and christ entry above marked ⚙ is this tool's fallible synthesis, built on the sourced interlinear, the Strong's glosses and lexeme frequencies supplied by the Verifier, and the verbatim public-domain commentary. Where a claim rests on one commentator only, that commentator is named. Where a cross-Testament link is asserted, no verbal tier is used, because shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed between Greek and Hebrew.

✦ = 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)