The Newe Testament (Tyndale, 1526)

The Gospel. [Left] / Of St. Matthew. fo. xix. [Right]
xix.

while men slept, his foe came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. When the blade had sprung up and brought forth fruit, then the tares appeared also. The servants said to the householder and said to him: "Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? From where then does it have tares?" He said to them, "The envious man has done this." Then the servants said to him: "Do you want us then to go and gather it?" and he said, "No, lest while you go about to weed out the tares, you pluck up also with them the wheat by the roots. Let both grow together until harvest comes, and in time of harvest, I will say to my reapers: gather first the tares and bind them in sheaves to be burnt; but gather the wheat into my barn."

¶ Another parable he put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man takes and sows in his field, which is the least of all seeds. But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and is a tree, so that the birds of the air come and build in the branches of it."

¶ Another parable said he to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of meal, until all was leavened."

¶ All these things Jesus spoke to the people by parables, and without parables he spoke nothing to them, to fulfill that which was spoken by the prophet saying: "I will open my mouth in parables, and will speak forth things which have been kept secret from the beginning of

the world."
Then Jesus sent the people away and came to the house, and his disciples came to him, saying: "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." Then he answered and said to them: "He that sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world. The children of the kingdom are the good seed. The evil man’s children are the tares. But the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. For even as the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that do hurt, and all those who do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous men shine as bright as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

¶ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and for joy of it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

¶ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls, who, when he had found one precious pearl, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

¶ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, that gathers of all kinds of fishes; which, when it is full, men draw to land and sit and gather the good into their vessels and cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of