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Diatessaron

Tatian, ANF 9

And he set forth to them another parable, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a man …

And he set forth to them another parable, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 2but when men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 3And when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, there were noticed the tares also. 4And the servants of the master of the house came, and said unto him, Our lord, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence are there tares in it? 5He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. His servants said unto him, Wilt thou that we go and separate it? 6He said unto them, Perhaps,¹ when ye separate the tares, ye would root up with them wheat also. 7Leave them to grow both together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say unto the reapers, Separate the tares first, and bind them in bundles to be burned with fire; and gather the wheat into my barns.

And he set forth to them another parable, and said, 9To what is the kingdom of God like? and to what shall I liken it? 10and in what parable shall I set it forth? 11It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and planted in his field: and of the number of the things that are sown in the earth it is smaller than all of the things which are sown, which are upon the earth; 12but when it is grown, it is greater than all the herbs, and produceth large branches, so that the birds of heaven make their nests in its branches.

And he set forth to them another parable: 14To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 15It is like the leaven which a woman took, and kneaded into three measures of flour, until the whole of it was leavened.

And Jesus spake all that to the multitudes by way of parables, according as they were able to hear. 17And without parables spake he not unto them; that the saying of the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled:

I will open my mouth in parables;

And I will utter secrets which were before the foundations² of the world.

But he explained to his disciples privately everything.

Then Jesus left³ the multitudes, and came to the house. And his disciples came unto him, and said unto him, Explain unto us that parable about the tares and the field. 20He answered and said unto them, He that sowed good seed is the Son of man; 21and the field is the world; and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; 22and the tares are the children of the evil one; and the enemy that sowed them⁴ is Satan; and the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 23And as the tares are separated and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. 24The Son of man shall send his angels, and separate from his kingdom all things that injure, 25and all the doers of iniquity, and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire: and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 26Then the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whosoever hath ears that hear, let him hear.

And again the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hid in a field: that which a man found and hid; and, for his pleasure in it, went and sold all that he had, and bought that field.

And again the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a merchant seeking excellent pearls; 29and when he found one pearl of great price, he went and sold everything that he had, and bought it.

And again the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast⁵ into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 31and when it was filled, they drew it up on to the shore of the sea, and sat down to select; and the good of them they threw into the vessels, and the bad they threw outside. 32Thus shall it be in the end of the world: the angels shall go forth, 33and separate the wicked from among the good, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They said unto him, Yea, our Lord. 35He said unto them, Therefore every scribe that becometh a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder, who bringeth out of his treasures the new and the old.

And when Jesus had finished all these parables, he removed thence, and came to his city; 37and he taught them in their synagogues, so that they were perplexed. 38And when the sabbath came, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue; and many of those that heard marvelled, and said, Whence came these things to this man? 39And many envied him and gave no heed to him, but said, What is this wisdom that is given to this man, that there should happen at his hands such as these mighty works?⁶ 40Is not this a carpenter, son of a carpenter? and is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 41And his sisters, all of them, lo, are they not all with us? 42Whence hath this man all these things? And they were in doubt concerning him. And Jesus knew their opinion, and said unto them, Will ye haply”⁷ say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal first thyself: and all that we have heard that thou didst in Capernaum, do here also in thine own city? 43And he said, Verily I say unto you, A prophet is not received in his own city, nor among his brethren: 44for a prophet is not despised, save in his own city, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 45Verily I say unto you, In the days of Elijah the prophet, there were many widows among the children of Israel, when the heaven held back three years and six months, 46and there was a great famine in all the land; and Elijah was not sent to one of them, save to Zarephath of Sidon, to a woman that was a widow. 47And many lepers were among the children of Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet; but not one of them was cleansed, save Naaman the Nabathaean.⁸ 48And he was not able to do there many mighty works,⁹ because of their unbelief; except that he laid his hand upon a few of the sick, and healed them. 49And he marvelled at their lack of faith. 50And when those who were in the synagogue heard, they were all filled with wrath; and they rose up, 51and brought him forth outside the city, and brought him to the brow of the hill upon which their city was built, that they might cast him from its summit: 52but he passed through among them and went away.

And he went about in the villages which were around Nazareth, and taught in their synagogues.

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