Discovery BoxMatthew 13:18-23 
Context13:18 “So listen to the parable of the sower: 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. 13:20 The 3 seed sown on rocky ground 4 is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. 13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure; 5 when 6 trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. 13:22 The 7 seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth 8 choke the word, 9 so it produces nothing. 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.” 10
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 Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
4 tn Grk “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one.” The next two statements like this one have this same syntactical structure.
5 tn Grk “is temporary.”
6 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
7 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
8 tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”
9 sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.
10 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”).
