Passage

Matthew 13.29

Book: Matthew · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

27. And the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it tares? 28. And he said unto them, An enemy hath done this. And the servants say unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29. But he saith, Nay; lest haply while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn. 31. Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: (Matthew 13:27-31, ASV)

WEB

27. The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’ 28. “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

29. “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” 31. He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; (Matthew 13:27-31, WEB)

KJV

27. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. 31. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: (Matthew 13:27-31, KJV)

YLT

27. 'And the servants of the householder, having come near, said to him, Sir, good seed didst thou not sow in thy field? whence then hath it the darnel? 28. And he saith to them, A man, an enemy, did this; and the servants said to him, Wilt thou, then, [that] having gone away we may gather it up?

29. 'And he said, No, lest, gathering up the darnel, ye root up with it the wheat,

suffer both to grow together till the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the darnel, and bind it in bundles, to burn it, and the wheat gather up into my storehouse.' 31. Another simile he set before them, saying: 'The reign of the heavens is like to a grain of mustard, which a man having taken, did sow in his field, (Matthew 13:27-31, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, telling the parable of the tares (13:24-30). Within the parable the speaker is the householder answering his servants.
Audience: The crowds on the shore (13:2), with the explanation given later to the disciples in the house (13:36-43)
Location: By the Sea of Galilee, Jesus teaching from a boat (13:1-2)
Time period: Jesus' Galilean ministry, around AD 28-30

Theological reading

"Nay; lest haply while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them." The servants have seen the weeds and want to pull them up at once (13:28). The master refuses, and the verse gives his reason.

The reason is built into the word "lest." "Lest haply" translates mēpote (Strong's G3379), which states the purpose of the refusal: to keep the wheat from being uprooted. The weeds, zizania (G2215), are commonly identified with darnel, a weed that looks like wheat while it grows. The master's own words say that pulling one would pull up the other. He is not indifferent to the weeds. He is protecting the crop.

Delay is a policy, with an end. The next verse sets the limit: "Let both grow together until the harvest," when the tares are gathered first and burned (13:30). Jesus' own explanation says "the field is the world," the tares are "the sons of the evil one," the enemy is the devil, the harvest is "the end of the world," and the reapers are angels (13:37-42). The servants' wish is right about the weeds and wrong about the timing.

What the verse teaches about God's patience. The parable presents God's restraint as deliberate and costly. Evil is allowed to stand for a time, not because it is approved, but because uprooting it now would harm those who belong to the kingdom. See Why Doesn't God Intervene Objection Defeater for how the codex uses this in the problem-of-evil discussion.

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.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Hypocrisy, via Matthew 13.24-30
Inquisition, via Matthew 13.24-30
Jesus Said, via Matthew 13
No True Scotsman Fallacy, via Matthew 13.24-30

Notes

Your annotations.

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 (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
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 for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.