# Matthew 13.14-15

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-06-01 | updated: 2026-06-01 -->

**Book:** [Matthew](/codex/matthew-the-apostle/) · NASB95

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> 12. <span class="rl-speech">For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.</span> 13. <span class="rl-speech">Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.</span>
>
> **14. <span class="rl-speech">And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them.</span>**
>
> 16. <span class="rl-speech">But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not.</span> (Matthew 13:12-17, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> 12. <span class="rl-speech">For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.</span> 13. <span class="rl-speech">Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.</span>
>
> **14. <span class="rl-speech">In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’</span>**
>
> 16. <span class="rl-speech">“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.</span> (Matthew 13:12-17, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> 12. <span class="rl-speech">For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.</span> 13. <span class="rl-speech">Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.</span>
>
> **14. <span class="rl-speech">And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.</span>**
>
> 16. <span class="rl-speech">But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.</span> (Matthew 13:12-17, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> 12. <span class="rl-speech">for whoever hath, it shall be given to him, and he shall have overabundance, and whoever hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken from him.</span> 13. <span class="rl-speech">'Because of this, in similes do I speak to them, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor understand,</span>
>
> **14. <span class="rl-speech">and fulfilled on them is the prophecy of Isaiah, that saith, With hearing ye shall hear, and ye shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and ye shall not perceive,</span> 15. <span class="rl-speech">for made gross was the heart of this people, and with the ears they heard heavily, and their eyes they did close, lest they might see with the eyes, and with the ears might hear, and with the heart understand, and turn back, and I might heal them.</span>**
>
> 16. <span class="rl-speech">'And happy are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear,</span> 17. <span class="rl-speech">for verily I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men did desire to see that which ye look on, and they did not see, and to hear that which ye hear, and they did not hear.</span> (Matthew 13:12-17, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** _TBD_
- **Audience:** _TBD_
- **Location:** _TBD_
- **Time period:** _TBD_

## Theological reading

_Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added._

## Key words

_Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap._

- _TBD_
- _TBD_
- _TBD_
- _TBD_

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## Quoted in

**Concepts:**

- [Jesus Said](/codex/jesus-said/), via [Matthew 13](/codex/matthew-13/)

**Lexicon:**

- [H3820 - lev](/codex/h3820-lev/)
- [H8085 - shama](/codex/h8085-shama/)

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_Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.