The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew13:47–52

The Parable of the Net

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Matthew 13:47–52 — The Parable of the Net. 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.

47

Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and caught all kinds of fish.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Palin hē basileia tōn ouranōn estin homoia sagēnē blētheisē eis tēn thalassan kai synagagousē ek pantos genous

Word by word17 · parsed
ΠάλινPalinOnce againG3825
√ πάλιν — (adverbially) anew, iAdverb
palin: again, anew Strong's sense is "anew." It opens a further likeness rather than a new subject, tying this parable to the chain of comparisons that precede it; Ellicott reads the day's teaching as ending here in an easy lesson the disciples' own trade would let them understand.
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
βασιλείαbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
basileia: royalty, rule, kingdom The noun is properly the reign, not the realm; so the comparison is never simply "heaven is like a net" but "the reigning of God now looks like this."
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
οὐρανῶνouranōnheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἐστὶνestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὁμοίαhomoialikeG3664
√ ὅμοιος — similar (in appearance or character)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
σαγήνῃsagēnēa netG4522
√ σαγήνη — a "seine" for fishingNounDative Feminine Singular
sagēnē: a seine for fishing A rare word, this its only occurrence in the Gospels, and the English "seine" descends from it through the Vulgate's sagena. Cambridge describes the working method precisely: one end held on the shore, the other hauled out by boat and returned to the land, so that fishes of all kinds are enclosed. The image is therefore indiscriminate by design: a drag-net cannot select, which is exactly why the sorting must wait for the beach.
βληθείσῃblētheisēthat was castG906
√ βάλλω — to throw (in various applications, more or less violent or intense)VerbAorist Participle PassiveDative Feminine Singular
ballō: to throw, cast Aorist passive: the net is thrown, it does not throw itself. Gill presses the point that the net can do nothing of itself unless cast, and not then unless blessed. The same root will be flung the other way in verse 50 (balousin), and again in verse 48 (ebalon exō), so the parable is held together by one violent verb used three times.
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
θάλασσανthalassanseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
thalassa: the sea Henry reads the sea as the world and men in their natural state as the fishes; Gill gives the same reading and adds the storms and instability of it. That is commentary, not lexicon, but it is the reading the next verses assume when the beach becomes the place of verdict.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
συναγαγούσῃsynagagousēcaughtG4863
√ συνάγω — to lead together, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveDative Feminine Singular
synagō: to lead together, gather Active participle: the net gathers. The verb of assembling is doing the work of a trawl, which is the parable's whole discomfort. What gathers a congregation and what gathers a mixed haul are, for now, one motion.
ἐκekG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
παντὸςpantosallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveGenitive Neuter Singular
γένουςgenouskinds [of fish]G1085
√ γένος — "kin" (abstract or concrete, literal or figurative, individual or collective)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
genos: kin, kind, race Neuter genitive after ek pantos, "out of every kind." Cambridge calls this a missionary parable precisely here: no external test at the point of ingathering will serve to exclude the unworthy convert. The word is wide enough to carry both the ethnic reach Gill hears and the moral mixture JFB hears.
48

When it was full, the men pulled it ashore. Then they sat down and sorted the good fish into containers, but threw the bad away.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

hēn hote eplērōthē anabibasantes epi ton aigialon kai kathisantes synelexan ta kala eis angē de ebalon ta sapra exō

Word by word19 · parsed
ἣνhēnG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Feminine Singular
ὅτεhoteWhenG3753
√ ὅτε — at which (thing) too, iAdverb
ἐπληρώθηeplērōthēit was fullG4137
√ πληρόω — to make replete, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
plēroō: to make replete, fill up Aorist passive. Gill reads the fullness eschatologically, as the moment when all that were designed to be called are called; JFB says the separation will not be made till the number of the elect is accomplished. That is a doctrinal gloss laid over a plain verb, but the verb does carry a limit: the net is drawn only when it is full, never before.
ἀναβιβάσαντεςanabibasantes[the men] pulled [it]G307
√ ἀναβιβάζω — to cause to go up, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
anabibazō: to cause to go up A New Testament hapax, and a workman's word: dragging a loaded seine up a beach takes many hands, which is why the Greek has a plural participle and no named subject.
ἐπὶepivvvG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὸνtonvvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
αἰγιαλὸνaigialonashoreG123
√ αἰγιαλός — a beach (on which the waves dash)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
aigialos: a beach on which the waves dash Only six verses in the New Testament carry this word, and one of them (Acts 21:5) is the beach where Paul knelt to pray at parting. Here it is the line between the sea, where everything is mixed, and the land, where everything is decided.
καὶkaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
καθίσαντεςkathisantesthey sat downG2523
√ καθίζω — to seat down, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
kathizō: to seat down JFB reads the sitting as expressing the deliberateness of the judicial separation; Pulpit, quoting Goebel, calls it the thoughtful care with which the work is done. Either way the detail is not decorative: sitting is the posture of a court, and Matthew will seat the Son of Man on a throne of glory for the same sorting work.
συνέλεξανsynelexan[and] sortedG4816
√ συλλέγω — to collectVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
syllegō: to collect A rare verb (8 verses) and the very one used of gathering the tares in verse 30 and verse 40. Matthew is not varying his vocabulary; he is repeating a procedure.
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
καλὰkalagood [fish]G2570
√ καλός — X better, fair, good(-ly), honest, meet, well, worthyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
kalos: fair, good, worthy Not agathos (morally good) but kalos, fit and fine. Pulpit notes the good fish correspond to their proper nature also in appearance. The pairing with sapros is the same pairing as the good and rotten trees of Matthew 7:17 and 12:33: what a thing is, and what it is fit for, are the same question.
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἄγγηangēcontainersG30
√ ἀγγεῖον — compare the base of G43 (ἀγκάλη))NounAccusative Neuter Plural
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἔβαλονebalonthrewG906
√ βάλλω — to throw (in various applications, more or less violent or intense)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
σαπρὰsaprabadG4550
√ σαπρός — rotten, iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
sapros: rotten, worthless Rare (6 verses). Every other Matthean use is of trees and their fruit. Here it describes fish that went into the net exactly as the others did: the net made no distinction, and the sorting does.
ἔξωexōawayG1854
√ ἔξω — out(-side, of doors), literally or figurativelyAdverb
exō: outside, out of doors The adverb that turns a verdict into a place, and it will be the standing word for the outer darkness in Matthew's judgment sayings.
49

So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Houtōs estai en tē synteleia tou aiōnos hoi angeloi exeleusontai kai aphoriousin tous ponērous ek mesou tōn dikaiōn

Word by word18 · parsed
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: entire completion, consummation Matthew's signature eschatological noun, used in verses 39, 40 and 49 of this chapter, then in 24:3 and 28:20. The disciples will later ask about this very synteleia, and the risen Christ will promise to be with them until it. The parable's beach is therefore not an ending imposed on the sea but the point at which the haul is complete.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
αἰῶνοςaiōnosageG165
√ αἰών — properly, an ageNounGenitive Masculine Singular
οἱhoiTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἄγγελοιangeloiangelsG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounNominative Masculine Plural
angelos: messenger, angel Strong's root sense is one who brings tidings. In verse 41 Matthew has already called them "his angels," the Son of Man's; the sorting is delegated, never independent. Gill notes that they come forth from the presence of God and Christ and by his orders, which keeps the agency where the text puts it.
ἐξελεύσονταιexeleusontaiwill comeG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
exerchomai: to issue, go out Future middle. The verb of a commissioned errand, matching verse 41.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀφοριοῦσινaphoriousinseparateG873
√ ἀφορίζω — to set off by boundary, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
aphorizō: to set off by a boundary The decisive verb of the unit. Its root is a boundary marker, and the future tense places the boundary-drawing entirely beyond the present. This is the exegetical ground for what Geneva says on verse 47, that there are many in the Church who are nevertheless not of the Church, and that the full cleansing of them is deferred to the last day. No one in the net draws this line now.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
πονηροὺςponērouswickedG4190
√ πονηρός — hurtful, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ponēros: hurtful, evil A moral word, not an economic one. The move from sapros (worthless) to ponēros (harmful) is the move from the picture to the thing pictured, and Ellicott adds the sobering rider that those who remain bad at the end are so by the result of their own will, since the casting of the net was meant to change them.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
μέσουmesou. . .G3319
√ μέσος — middle (as an adjective or (neuter) noun)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Singular
mesos: middle "Out of the midst." The preposition and the noun together concede that the mixture was real and interior, not a fringe problem.
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
δικαίωνdikaiōnrighteousG1342
√ δίκαιος — equitable (in character or act)AdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
dikaios: equitable in character or act The righteous are defined here only by what they are not separated into. Matthew has just said in verse 43 that they will shine as the sun in their Father's kingdom; the parable of the net leaves their glory unstated and gives all its detail to the furnace.
50

and 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
βαλοῦσινbalousinthrowG906
√ βάλλω — to throw (in various applications, more or less violent or intense)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ballō: to throw, more or less violently Strong's notes the verb's range runs to the violent and intense, and this is its most violent use in the unit. The parable began with a net thrown into water and ends with men thrown into fire, and Matthew uses one verb for both motions.
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
κάμινονkaminonfurnaceG2575
√ κάμινος — a furnaceNounAccusative Feminine Singular
kaminos: a furnace Only four New Testament verses carry this noun: this one, its twin at 13:42, and two in Revelation, where the Son of Man's feet are like burnished bronze refined in a furnace (1:15) and the abyss smokes like a great furnace (9:2). A furnace is a made thing with a purpose, which is why the image can serve refining in one place and destruction in another.
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 Rare (9 verses), and in Matthew always joined to the gnashing of teeth in a single fixed formula. Its one non-formulaic occurrence in Matthew is the weeping of Rachel for her children at 2:18, which shows the word is not a stock intensifier but Matthew's word for real grief.
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 Strong's gives the root sense as a grating, which is harsher and more mechanical than the modern "gnashing." In the New Testament the noun is not used outside this formula, which is why it carries no independent colour: it is a sound of rage and pain together, and the definite articles make it the recognised noise of the place rather than a reaction being described.
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ὀδόντωνodontōnteethG3599
√ ὀδούς — a "tooth"NounGenitive Masculine Plural
odous: a tooth Genitive plural completing the formula; 11 verses in all, most of them this same refrain.
51

Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Synēkate panta tauta Nai Legousin autō

Word by word6 · parsed
ΣυνήκατεSynēkateHave you understoodG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
syniēmi: to put together, comprehend The hinge verb of the whole chapter. In verses 13 to 15 the crowd hears and does not put together, in verse 19 the seed on the path is the one who does not, in verse 23 the good soil is the one who does. Christ now asks the Twelve which of these they are, and Ellicott's judgment is that an intellectual apprehension which is also spiritual is the condition of the growth in wisdom that lets a disciple become a teacher.
πάνταpantaallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
ταῦταtautathese thingsG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
houtos: this, these "All these things" most naturally covers the seven parables of the chapter, though Pulpit limits it to the immediately preceding ones and others spoken at the same time, and Gill extends it to all the parables besides those already explained. The brief records both readings, and the Greek decides neither.
ΝαίNaiYesG3483
√ ναί — yesParticle
nai: yes The shortest answer in the chapter, and the text leaves it entirely unqualified. Ellicott hears something child-like in its readiness; Gill hears a true and faithful report of real understanding given them at that moment. Matthew reports the word and passes no verdict on it, and chapters 16 and 26 will test it.
ΛέγουσινLegousinthey answeredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
legō: to lay forth, say Historic present, dropping the narrative into the moment of the exchange.
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
52

Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho eipen autois Dia touto pas grammateus mathēteutheis tē basileia tōn ouranōn estin homoios anthrōpō oikodespotē hostis ekballei ek autou tou thēsaurou kaina kai palaia

Word by word26 · parsed
δὲdeThenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenHe toldG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ 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
ΔιὰDiaFor this reasonG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
dia touto: because of this Pulpit paraphrases it plainly: because you understand, I add this. The promise of verse 52 is given on the strength of the Yes of verse 51, which makes the whole saying conditional on a claim the disciples have just made about themselves.
τοῦτοtouto. . .G3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
πᾶςpaseveryG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
γραμματεὺςgrammateusscribeG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounNominative Masculine Singular
grammateus: scribe, town-clerk A deliberately provocative choice of title. Gill denies that legal scribes are meant and insists on evangelical ones; Pulpit judges that the word must be understood of Christian teachers holding a position parallel to the scribes among the Jews, and suggests Christ chose the term to accustom the disciples to the idea of carrying on the study of divine things. Ellicott notes how rarely Christ compares his own work to that of the scribal schools, and that here he does.
μαθητευθεὶςmathēteutheiswho has been discipledG3100
√ μαθητεύω — intransitively, to become a pupilVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
mathēteuō: to become or make a pupil A rare verb (4 verses in the New Testament), and its other occurrences are Joseph of Arimathea who had been discipled to Jesus (27:57), the Great Commission itself (28:19), and Paul and Barnabas making many disciples at Derbe (Acts 14:21). Passive here: the teacher is first a taught man, and the same word that will commission the eleven to disciple the nations is used first of the scribe who is himself discipled.
τῇtēin theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
βασιλείᾳbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounDative Feminine Singular
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
οὐρανῶνouranōnheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be Present indicative. The likeness is stated as a present fact, not a future reward.
ὅμοιόςhomoioslikeG3664
√ ὅμοιος — similar (in appearance or character)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπῳanthrōpōvvvG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounDative Masculine Singular
οἰκοδεσπότῃoikodespotēa homeownerG3617
√ οἰκοδεσπότης — the head of a familyNounDative Masculine Singular
oikodespotēs: head of a family The householder of verse 27, who owned the wheat field where tares appeared, returns here as the model for the teacher. In this chapter the same figure both endures the mixture and feeds the house.
ὅστιςhostiswhoG3748
√ ὅστις — which some, iPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐκβάλλειekballeibringsG1544
√ ἐκβάλλω — to eject (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ekballō: to eject, cast out A strong verb for an act of hospitality, and the same compound family used of the rotten fish thrown out in verse 48. Poole's picture is of a man who does not have his provision to seek when his guests come but has a full storehouse to draw on; Gill says the giving must be plentiful and in great variety. The verb will not permit a hoarding teacher.
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
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
θησαυροῦthēsauroustoreroomG2344
√ θησαυρός — a deposit, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
thēsauros: a deposit, treasure Matthew's own key word: treasure in heaven (6:19 to 21), the treasure hidden in the field (13:44), the treasures of the magi (2:11), and the good man's treasure out of which he brings good things (12:35). Gill names three candidates for this treasury: Christ himself as the storehouse of grace and truth, the Scriptures, or the store of gospel knowledge in the minister's own heart, and refuses to decide between them.
καινὰkainanew [treasures]G2537
√ καινός — newAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
kainos: new (in kind) Not neos (recent) but kainos (fresh in kind), the word of the new covenant and the new creation. Ellicott lists what the new would come to include: Christ's own mission as head of the kingdom and future Judge, and the work of the Spirit.
καὶkaias well asG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
παλαιάpalaiaoldG3820
√ παλαιός — antique, iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
palaios: antique, old Placed last and therefore emphatic. Cambridge offers two readings, the heirloom brought out beside newly acquired treasure, and a possible reference to sacrificial usage where sometimes the new harvest and sometimes the produce of a former year furnished the offering. Ellicott draws the pastoral moral: in that union a teacher finds at once reverence for the past and courage for the future.

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 net that cannot choose — 13:47

⚙ The parable's first word is a rare one. σαγήνῃ (sagēnē, G4522) appears nowhere else in the Gospels, and both Ellicott and JFB stop to say why it matters: Ellicott distinguishes it from the hand-net of Matthew 4:18 and calls it the great drag-net, while JFB says it draws everything after it, suffering nothing to escape, and takes that as a figure of the far-reaching efficacy of the Gospel. Cambridge supplies the mechanics, one end of the seine held on the shore and the other hauled out by boat and returned to land, and concludes that this is a missionary parable whose lesson is that no external test will serve to exclude the unworthy convert. Note what the grammar does with agency: βληθείσῃ is an aorist passive with no agent named, and συναγαγούσῃ is active, so the net is thrown by an unnamed hand and then gathers of itself. Gill presses exactly this, that the net can do nothing of itself unless cast, and not then unless a blessing follows. And the thing gathered is ἐκ παντὸς γένους, out of every kind, with "of fish" supplied by the translators, not written by Matthew. Benson, quoting Macknight, hears the width ecclesially: congregations are gathered, a visible church is formed, and both good and bad are mingled in it so that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to make a proper distinction between them.

ii. The beach, the sitting down, and the two heaps — 13:48

⚙ Everything turns on a location. αἰγιαλὸν (aigialon, G123) is the beach where the waves break, and Pulpit prefers the Revised Version's local touch, they drew up on the beach. Sorting is impossible in water. The filling is a passive event (ἐπληρώθη), and Pulpit insists it is not a matter of course but by those that came or were brought in; JFB, more boldly, says the separation will not be made till the number of the elect is accomplished, which is his doctrine laid on a verb that says only that the net filled. Then the men sit. JFB reads the posture as expressing the deliberateness with which the judicial separation will at length be made, and Pulpit, citing Goebel, calls it the thoughtful care of the work. The vocabulary of the sorting is not fresh: συνέλεξαν (syllegō, G4816, only 8 verses) is the same verb used of gathering the tares in verses 30 and 40, and the pair καλὰ / σαπρὰ is the pair of Matthew 7:17 and 12:33, the good and rotten trees. Pulpit refuses to press sapros to literal putrefaction, glossing it as the worthless, the unfit for use, and citing Tristram's observation on the lake that fishermen throw back what is too small for the market or considered unclean. Gill concedes the parable's own untidiness here: fishermen do this sorting, yet by the application it is the angels who do it.

iii. Thus will it be: the boundary and the furnace — 13:49 to 13:50

⚙ At Οὕτως the picture is dropped. Pulpit states it flatly: our Lord has here left the imagery of the parable, and he proves it from the vocabulary, since the fish were sapros (worthless) while the men are πονηροὺς (ponēros, G4190, hurtful), which refers more directly to the moral character. The governing verb is ἀφοριοῦσιν (aphorizō, G873), to set off by a boundary; Pulpit glosses it as taking them completely away, and it is future throughout. That future tense is the whole pastoral point, and Geneva states the consequence in one line on verse 47: there are many in the Church who are nevertheless not of the Church, and the full and perfect cleansing of them is deferred to the last day. Poole says the same at greater length, that a perfect separation is not to be expected until the day of judgment. Verse 50 then repeats verse 42 exactly, as Pulpit records word for word, and the repetition is itself the argument: the tares and the fish end in one furnace. JFB draws the distinction between the two parables carefully, that the bad in the Tares are vile seed sown by the enemy while here they are foul fish drawn out of the sea by the Gospel net itself, and that the earlier parable stresses the present mixture where this one stresses the future separation. Barnes will not let the reader soften it, observing that the most fearful accounts of hell in the Scriptures are from the lips of the one who came to preach salvation.

iv. Yes: and the storeroom that follows — 13:51 to 13:52

⚙ The question uses the chapter's own diagnostic verb. Συνήκατε (syniēmi, G4920) is the verb of putting things together, the one that divides the crowd who hear and do not comprehend (13:13 to 15) from the good soil that does (13:23), and Ellicott notes it is the same word as in the Sower and that this apprehension is the condition of growing into a teacher. The answer is one particle, Ναί, and Pulpit notes that the Revised Version rightly drops the added "Lord," which distracts from the quiet affirmative. The commentators divide honestly here: Ellicott hears a certain child-like naïveté in the readiness of it, Gill hears a true and faithful answer proving their close attention and an understanding specially opened at that moment. Then comes διὰ τοῦτο, which Pulpit paraphrases as "because you understand, I add this." The title given is γραμματεὺς, scribe, and Ellicott marks how rare it is for Christ to compare his own work and his apostles' to that of the scribes of the Jewish schools; Cambridge puts it as a new law requiring a new order of Scribes. But the decisive word is the rare passive participle μαθητευθεὶς (mathēteuō, G3100, only 4 verses in the New Testament), which Pulpit says implies far more than admission to a circle of disciples. Such a man is οἰκοδεσπότῃ, a head of household, who ἐκβάλλει (throws out, not merely brings out) from his θησαυροῦ things new and old. Poole's picture is a man who does not have his provision to seek when his guests arrive; Barnes says the truth gained must not be kept laid up and hid; Gill leaves the treasury deliberately unidentified, naming Christ himself, the Scriptures, and the minister's own store of grace as candidates. Pulpit notes that "old" stands last because it takes the greater skill, and that Irenaeus' reading of new and old as the two Testaments is only partially right, the New Testament not yet existing when the words were spoken.

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

⚙ Offered to be tested, not asserted. Read straight through, this unit is built out of one verb used three ways. Ballō (G906) throws the net into the sea (v. 47), throws the rotten outside (v. 48), and throws the wicked into the furnace (v. 50), and English hides the chain under "cast," "threw" and "throw." The parable is therefore not first about who is in and who is out; it is about what kind of motion the kingdom is. It is a throw, and a throw cannot aim at a single fish. That is why the seine and not the hand-net is named, and why the fish are gathered out of every kind with no noun attached to "kind." The one thing forbidden to everyone inside the parable is the thing religious people most want: to do the sorting early. Matthew gives the separating verb ἀφοριοῦσιν only in the future, and only to angels sent out, and only at the synteleia, the completion of the age. Geneva and Poole both say this plainly, that the cleansing is deferred. Then comes the turn that a reader is likely to miss because the chapter break waits two verses. Having said that the mixture must be endured and the boundary left to angels, Christ asks whether they have put it together, and on their bare Yes gives them a job: not to sort, but to feed, throwing out of a storeroom things new and old. The same root that ejects the worthless (ekballō) is the root of the householder's generosity. So the reading I would offer for testing is this: what the disciple is forbidden to do with people he is commanded to do with truth. Do not throw out the doubtful convert; do throw out the treasure. One caution against my own reading. The parable says nothing at all about the good fish beyond their being gathered into vessels, and I have said nothing either, because Matthew did not. And Ellicott's rider stands over the whole of it: the casting of the net is meant to change the nature of what it takes, so that those who remain bad at the end are so by the result of their own will.

What the disciple is forbidden to do with people, he is commanded to do with truth: never sort the net early, always empty the storeroom. (⚙ a fallible reading, not a verse)

⚙

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 furnace repeated: verse 50 is verse 42 over again verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Pulpit records the fact without comment: "The verse is word for word the same as ver. 42." Matthew ends the parable of the Tares and the parable of the Net in the identical sentence, and the Verifier confirms the shared vocabulary (ballō G906 twice, pyr G4442), to which the full clause adds κάμινος, κλαυθμός, βρυγμός and ὀδόντων. The repetition is the interpretation: JFB argues that the two parables hold the same truth under a slight diversity of aspect, the bad being vile seed sown by the enemy in the one and foul fish drawn out of the sea by the Gospel net itself in the other. Two different accounts of how evil gets inside; one identical end.

Matthew 13:42

basis: Verifier: shared G906 βάλλω (in 107 vv) twice and G4442 πῦρ (in 69 vv); the full clause is verbatim identical, as Pulpit records at 13:50. Matthew to Matthew, no Testament crossing.

The weeping and the gnashing: Matthew's fixed formula for the outside verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ κλαυθμός (G2805, 9 verses) and ὀδούς (G3599, 11 verses) are both rare, and in the Gospels they occur together almost every time either occurs at all, always with ἐκεῖ ("there"). The Verifier finds the same cluster at the feast of the patriarchs from which the sons of the kingdom are cast out (8:12), the man without a wedding garment (22:13), the servant cut in pieces (24:51), the unprofitable servant thrown into the outer darkness (25:30), and Luke's saying about seeing Abraham and being thrust out (13:28). Every one of them is a scene of exclusion from a gathering the excluded had reason to think themselves inside. That is precisely the situation of the rotten fish, which reached the beach in the same net as the good.

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

basis: Verifier: shared G2805 κλαυθμός (in 9 vv) and G3599 ὀδούς (in 11 vv), with G1563 ἐκεῖ (in 94 vv) at Matt 22:13, 24:51 and 25:30 and G1854 ἔξω (in 62 vv) at Luke 13:28. Both key lexemes are rare and occur as a fixed formula. All refs Greek to Greek.

Vessels: the word used twice in the New Testament, and both times at a sorting verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ ἄγγη (angeion, G30) occurs in only two verses in the whole New Testament. Here the good fish go into vessels; at Matthew 25:4 the wise virgins take oil in their vessels with their lamps. Both texts are Matthean, both are about a division made at the arrival of a decisive moment, and in both the vessel is the mark of the one who is kept. The Pulpit Commentary independently notes the closeness of this parable to that of the ten virgins, observing that there the stress falls on preparation and watchfulness and here on personal worth. The rare shared noun gives that comparison a verbal footing, though nothing in either text makes the containers themselves symbolic, and I would not press them.

Matthew 25:4

basis: Verifier: shared G30 ἀγγεῖον (in 2 vv), that is, every New Testament occurrence of the noun. Rare lexeme, Greek to Greek, no quotation claimed.

Discipled: the scribe of verse 52 and the commission of Matthew 28 verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ μαθητευθεὶς (mathēteuō, G3100) is rare, four verses in all, and the Verifier lists every one: this scribe, Joseph of Arimathea who had been discipled to Jesus (27:57), the risen Lord's command to disciple all nations (28:19), and Paul and Barnabas who discipled many at Derbe (Acts 14:21). The form here is passive, as Pulpit stresses in defending the Revised Version's "who hath been made a disciple" and adding that it implies instruction really received. The chain is therefore ordered: the man who will be told to disciple the nations is first himself discipled, and the storeroom he empties is one he did not fill. Cambridge's phrase, a new order of Scribes for a new law, reads naturally with 28:19 in view, though Cambridge himself does not cite that verse here.

Matthew 27:57 · Matthew 28:19 · Acts 14:21

basis: Verifier: shared G3100 μαθητεύω (in 4 vv), that is, the complete New Testament distribution of the verb. Rare lexeme; Greek to Greek; the link is lexical, and the ordering I draw from it is my own inference.

Good and rotten: the fish sorted by the test given to trees verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The pair καλὰ / σαπρὰ in verse 48 is not fishing vocabulary. Sapros (G4550) is rare, six verses, and Matthew's other uses are all of trees: the good tree bringing forth good fruit and the rotten tree evil fruit (7:17), a good tree not being able to bring forth evil fruit (7:18), and the demand to make the tree good or rotten and know it by its fruit (12:33). Pulpit sends the reader to exactly these verses at verse 48, and notes that the good fish correspond to their proper nature also in appearance. The transfer is the point: the test applied to the catch is the test Christ has already applied to teachers and to hearts, which is why verse 49 can shift from sapros (worthless) to πονηρούς (harmful) without changing subject.

Matthew 7:17 · Matthew 7:18 · Matthew 12:33

basis: Verifier: shared G4550 σαπρός (in 6 vv, rare) with G2570 καλός (in 90 vv) and G4190 πονηρός (in 72 vv) at Matt 7:17 and 7:18. Matthew 12:33 is added on the same rare lexeme, cited by Pulpit at 13:48. Greek to Greek.

The furnace: a built fire, in four verses only structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ κάμινος (G2575) is a furnace or kiln, a constructed and purposeful fire, and it occurs in only four New Testament verses: twice in this chapter (13:42, 13:50) and twice in Revelation, where the feet of the Son of Man are like burnished bronze refined in a furnace (1:15) and the smoke of the abyss rises as the smoke of a great furnace (9:2). The Verifier records the shared lexeme with both Revelation texts, and with 1:15 also homoios (G3664), the "like" of our verse 47 and verse 52. The link is lexical and thematic: a furnace in Scripture may refine or may destroy, and nothing in the noun decides which. I note the resonance without claiming that Matthew and John are drawing on one another.

Revelation 1:15 · Revelation 9:2

basis: Verifier: shared G2575 κάμινος (in 4 vv, rare) with both refs, plus G3664 ὅμοιος (in 41 vv) with Rev 1:15. Greek to Greek, so a verbal basis exists, but I downgrade the tier because no quotation, citation or literary dependence is in evidence: the shared noun carries opposite senses in the two books.

Fish of every kind hauled to the shore: Ezekiel's river typological

⚙ In Ezekiel's vision of the river from the temple, fishermen stand along the banks from Engedi to Eneglaim spreading their nets, and the fish are of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. The images line up closely with verse 47: a sea, a net, fish according to their kinds, and an ingathering that is a sign of the age to come. No verbal basis is possible or claimed, since the Verifier cannot match Hebrew lexemes against Greek ones, and none of the commentators in this brief cites Ezekiel here. I offer it as a figural reading only: the prophet's picture of abundance under the healing river read forward into a haul that must still be sorted on the beach. A reader who finds the resemblance too general should discard it without loss to anything else in this unit.

Ezekiel 47:9-10

basis: No shared Strong's basis is available: the link crosses Testaments (Hebrew to Greek), so it cannot be tiered verbal. Basis is motif only (river or sea, spread nets, fish of many kinds, eschatological ingathering). Novel in the sense that no voice in this brief records it; offered as figural reading, not as a recorded provenance.

Fishers sent for the nations: Jeremiah and Habakkuk flagged: verify source

⚙ Two prophetic texts use the fishing net for God's dealing with nations: Jeremiah 16:16, where the LORD says he will send for many fishers and they shall fish them, and Habakkuk 1:14-15, where men are made like the fish of the sea and the oppressor gathers them in his net and rejoices. Benson, quoting Macknight, notes that this parable was spoken to fishermen who had been promised they should catch men (Matthew 4:19), which is the link a reader naturally reaches for. But the prophetic net is an instrument of judgment on a people, not of gospel ingathering, and the association is mine and not the Verifier's or the commentators'. It is recorded here flagged rather than asserted, because the direction of the image is arguably reversed between the prophets and the parable.

Jeremiah 16:16 · Habakkuk 1:14-15

basis: No Verifier basis exists or can exist (Hebrew to Greek), and no voice in this brief cites either prophet at Matthew 13:47. The motif of the net is shared but its valence differs (judgment on nations versus gospel ingathering). Flagged for a reader to check rather than relied on.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one who throws the net and the one who throws the fire ancient/widely-held

⚙ The parable never names the fisherman, and the participle in verse 47 is passive with no agent: the net was cast. But the interpretation names the hand. Verse 49 sends out angels who, at verse 41 in the parallel parable, are called "his angels," the Son of Man's; Gill accordingly has them come forth from the presence of God and Christ and by his orders, as the judge of all the earth. One Greek verb, ballō (G906), throws the net into the sea and throws the wicked into the furnace, so the missionary act and the judicial act belong to one person. Barnes refuses the comfortable division of labour that would put mercy in one mouth and severity in another, observing that the most fearful accounts of hell in the Scriptures come from the lips of the one who came to preach salvation. Poole says plainly that Christ will accomplish his design in the world and then the day of judgment shall come. This identification of the sorting Lord with the preaching Christ is the ordinary reading of the passage across the voices in this brief.

Matthew 13:41 · Matthew 25:31-32 · John 5:22

The householder's treasure: Christ as the storeroom itself ancient/widely-held

⚙ Gill, commenting on θησαυροῦ in verse 52, gives three candidates for the treasury and puts Christ first: either Christ, who is the great treasury and storehouse of grace and truth, from whence his ministers receive all their gifts, grace, light and knowledge; or the Scriptures; or the store of gospel knowledge in the preacher's own heart, and he declines to choose. The language of grace and truth is drawn from John's prologue, and the same chapter of Matthew has already called the kingdom a treasure hidden in a field for which a man sells all he has (13:44). Read with Paul's claim that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), the scribe of verse 52 is not a man with a good library but a man with access to a person. This is why the participle is passive: mathēteutheis, he was discipled. Nothing comes out of the storeroom that was not first put in by someone else.

Matthew 13:44 · Colossians 2:3 · John 1:14

Things new and old: the teacher whose own teaching was the union ancient/widely-held

⚙ Ellicott makes the redemptive-historical point directly: our Lord's own teaching was the highest example of this union, holding together the old eternal laws of righteousness and new truths, namely his own mission as head of the divine kingdom and future Judge of all men, and the work of the Spirit as regenerating and sanctifying, and he adds that as the years passed, the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension supplied the ground-work for further new doctrine which took its place in the store-house. Cambridge reads verse 52 as a new law requiring a new order of Scribes instructed in the kingdom's mysteries, laws and future as the Jewish scribes were instructed in the Mosaic observances. Pulpit is more careful, insisting that Irenaeus' identification of new and old with the two Testaments is only partially right since the New Testament did not yet exist. ⚙ I follow Pulpit in the caution and Ellicott in the substance: the new is not a replacement canon but a person and his work, and the old is read truly only when brought out beside him. Note that Matthew places palaia last, and Pulpit reads the order as deliberate, since handling the old rightly takes the greater skill.

Matthew 5:17 · Luke 24:27 · Hebrews 1:1-2

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)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. Two variants touch these six verses and both are recorded in the brief. At verse 51 the opening "Jesus saith unto them" is absent from several witnesses: Gill reports it missing from the Vulgate, the Ethiopic, Munster's Hebrew Gospel and some Greek copies while judging it necessary to the sense, and Pulpit calls it a manifest gloss perhaps due to a lectionary. The interlinear used here has no such clause, and BSB reads simply "Have you understood all these things?" Also at verse 51 the disciples' "Lord" after "Yes" is absent from the text before us; Pulpit says the Revised Version rightly omits it because it distracts from the quiet affirmative. Nothing doctrinal turns on either. Translation. The BSB gloss "kinds [of fish]" at 13:47 supplies a noun Matthew did not write; γένος means kin or kind without qualification, and several of the commentators read it of nations and ranks of men as well as of fish. "Homeowner" at 13:52 renders a two-word Greek phrase (a man, a master of a house) and loses the household under his care, which is what the bringing out is for. Sources. Matthew Henry's note here is a single paragraph covering all four parables of 13:44 to 52, so his sentence on the net is a summary rather than verse-level comment. Poole gives no separate note on 13:47 to 13:49, referring the reader forward to 13:50, and Gill's note on 13:50 refers the reader back to his note on 13:42, which is outside this unit. Benson's sharpest paragraph is a quotation from Macknight, whom he names. Several of the Geneva entries in this brief reproduce the verse text with no gloss attached, and those have not been quoted as commentary. Gill on 13:52 and Pulpit on 13:52 are both capped in the brief; the material quoted here falls inside the visible portion. What is uncertain. The scope of "all these things" at 13:51 is genuinely open: Pulpit restricts it to the parables immediately preceding and others spoken at the same time, Gill extends it to all the parables besides those already explained, and the Greek settles nothing. Whether the disciples' Yes is adequate is also left open by Matthew, and the voices divide (Ellicott sceptical, Gill affirming); this synthesis reports the division rather than resolving it. The Ezekiel and Jeremiah threads carry no verbal basis and cannot: cross-Testament links cannot be tiered verbal because Hebrew and Greek lexemes share no Strong's numbers, and the Jeremiah and Habakkuk pairing is flagged because its imagery may run in the opposite direction from the parable's. Frequencies quoted in the badges are the Verifier's counts as supplied in the brief.

✦ = 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)