Matthew 13:19

13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ¹  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ²  this is the seed sown along the path.

Matthew 13:23

13:23 But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” ³ 

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¹ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

² sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

³ tn The Greek is difficult to translate because it switches from a generic “he” to three people within this generic class (thus, something like: “Who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one instance a hundred times, in another, sixty times, in another, thirty times”).