“Listen! A sower went out to sow. ¹ 

He ¹  told them many things in parables, ²  saying: “Listen! ³  A sower went out to sow. ⁴ 

Fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies.

But his master answered, ¹  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?

“A sower went out to sow ¹  his seed. ²  And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds ³  devoured it.

Consider the ravens: ¹  They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds ²  them. How much more valuable are you than the birds!

For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe ¹  man. You withdraw ²  what you did not deposit ³  and reap what you did not sow.’

And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare seed ¹  – perhaps of wheat or something else.

They are illustrations of this true proverb: ¹  “A dog returns to its own vomit,” ²  and “A sow, after washing herself, ³  wallows in the mire.” ⁴ 

Look at the birds in the sky: ¹  They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds ²  them. Aren’t you more valuable ³  than they are?

So the slaves ¹  of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed,

The king ¹  said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, ²  you wicked slave! ³  So you knew, did you, that I was a severe ⁴  man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow?