Parallel Texts in Matthew, Mark & Luke

4. Understanding The Sower
Matt 13:18-23 // Mark 4:13-20 // Luke 8:11-15

  context     Greek synopsis     English synopsis     parable     analysis     source hypotheses  

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Greek Text

The reconstruction of the gospel texts below is based on the critical edition of E. Nestle's Novum Testamentum Graece presented with a fuller critical apparatus in Kurt Aland's Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum  ed. ii (Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1964) pp. 177-178.  The matched column format & color coding employed here is the original work of the author of this electronic edition. The accented Greek script used to compose this synopsis is the unicode font, Palatino Linotype.

EXPLAINING  the  PARABLE of  the  SOWER
Matthew 13 Mark 4 Luke 8
18   13 Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς·    
  Ὑμεῖς οὖν    οὐκ οἴδατε  11   Ἔστιν δὲ 
  ἀκούσατε     αὕτη
  τὴν παραβολὴν   τὴν παραβολὴν   ἡ παραβολή·  
    ταύτην,  
      καὶ πῶς πάσας     
    τὰς παραβολὰς   
      γνώσεσϑε;    
  τοῦ σπείραντος. 14 ὁ σπείρων   ὁ σπόρος ἐστὶν
    τὸν λόγον   ὁ λόγος
    σπείρει.   τοῦ ϑεοῦ.
    15 οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ 12 οἱ δὲ
    ** παρὰ τὴν ὀδόν·  ** παρὰ τὴν ὀδόν
      ὅπου   εἰσιν
    σπείρεται ὁ λογος  
19 Πάντος   καὶ ὅταν   οἱ
  ἀκούοντος,   ἀκούσωσιν,   ἀκούσαντες,
  τὸν λόγον        
  τῆς βασιλείας    
  καὶ μὴ συνιέτος        
  ἔρχεται   εὐϑὺς ἔρχεται   εἶτα ἔρχεται
  ὁ πονηρὸς   ὁ σατανᾶς   ὁ διάβολος 
  καὶ ἁρπάζει   καὶ αἴρει   καὶ αἴρει
    τὸν λόγον   τὸν λόγον
  τὸ ἐσπαρμένον   τὸν ἐσπαρμένον    
  ἐν τῆ καρδία *** εἰς   ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας
  |αὐτου·   αὐτους.   αὐτῶν,
          ἵνα
      μὴ πιστεύσαντες
          σωϑῶσιν.
  οὑτός ἐστιν ὁ         
** παρὰ τὴν ὀδόν        
  σπάρεις.    
 20  ὁ δὲ 16 καὶ οὗτοί εἰσιν 13 οἱ δὲ
    ὁμοίως οἱ   
  ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη   ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη   ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας
  σπαρείς,   σπειρόμενοι,  
  οὑτός ἐστιν ὁ   οἱ ὅταν   οἱ ὅταν
    ἀκούσωσιν   ἀκούσωσιν
  τὸν λόγον*   τὸν λόγον*  
  ἀκούων    
  καὶ εὐϑὺς   εὐϑὺς    
  μετὰ χαρᾶς   μετὰ χαρᾶς   μετὰ χαρᾶς
  λαμβάνων   λαμβάνουσιν   δέχονται
  αὐτόν,   αὐτόν,   τὸν λόγον,*
   17  καὶ   καὶ οὗτοι
21 οὐκ ἔχει δὲ   οὐκ ἔχουσιν*    
  ῥίζαν   ῥίζαν   ῥίζαν
  ἐν ἑαυτῷ   ἐν ἑαυτοις   οὐκ ἔχουσιν*
  ἀλλὰ   ἀλλὰ  
  πρόσκαιρός   πρόσκαιροί   οἱ καιρὸν 
  ἐστιν,    εἰσιν,   πιστεύσιν
  γενομένης δὲ   εἶτα γενομένης   καὶ ἐν καιρῷ
  ϑλίψεως   ϑλίψεως   πειρασμοῦ
  ἤ διωγμοῦ   ἤ διωγμοῦ  
  διὰ τὸν λόγον   διὰ τὸν λόγον    
  εὐϑὺς   εὐϑὺς    
  σκανδαλίζεται.   σκανδαλίζονται.   ἀϕίστανται.
22 ὁ δὲ 18 καὶ ἄλλοι εἰσιν  14  τὸ δὲ  
  εἰς   οἱ εἰς   εἰς
  τὰς ἀκάνϑας   τὰς ἀκάνϑας   τὰς ἀκάνϑας
  σπαρείς,    σπειρόμενοι·   πεσόν, 
  οὗτοί ἐστιν ὁ   οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ   οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ
  τὸν λόγον   τὸν λόγον  
  ἀκούων,   ἀκούσαντες,   ἀκούσαντες,
  καὶ 19 καὶ   καὶ
  ἡ μέριμνα   αἱ μέριμναι   ὑπὸ μέριμνῶν
  τοῦ αἰῶνος   τοῦ αἰῶνος  
  καὶ ἡ ἀπάτη   καὶ ἡ ἀπάτη   καὶ
  τοῦ πλούτου   τοῦ πλούτου   πλούτου
      καὶ αἱ   καὶ
    περὶ τὰ λοιπὰ   ἡδονῶν 
      ἐπιϑυμίαι   τοῦ βίου
    εἰσπορευόμενοι   πορευόμενοι
  συμπνίγει   συμπνίγουσιν   συμπνίγονται
  τὸν λόγον   τὸν λόγον  
  καὶ ἄκαρπος   καὶ ἄκαρπος   καὶ οὐ 
  γίνεται.   γίνεται.   τελεσϕοροῦσιν.
23 ὁ δὲ 20 καὶ ἐκεῖνοί εἰσιν οἱ 15 τὸ δὲ
  ἐπὶ   ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν*   ἐν
  τὴν καλὴν γῆν*   τὴν καλὴν   τῇ καλῇ γῇ 
  σπαρείς,    σπαρέντες,   
  οὗτός ἐστιν     οὗτοί εἰσιν
  ὁ   οἵτινες   οἵτινες
      ἐν καρδίᾳ
      καλῇ
      καὶ ἀγαϑῇ
  τὸν λόγον*   ἀκούουσιν   ἀκούσαντες
  ἀκούων   τὸν λόγον*   τὸν λόγον*
  καὶ   καὶ  
  συνιείς   παραδέχονται   κατέχουσιν
  καὶ   καὶ   καὶ
  καρποϕορει   καρποϕοροῦσιν   καρποϕοροῦσιν
  καὶ ποιεῖ    
  ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν,*   ἐν τριάκοντα*  
  ὃ δὲ   καὶ    
  ἑξήκοντα,   ἐν ἑξήκοντα    
  ὃ δὲ   καὶ  
  τριάκοντα*   ἐν ἑκατόν.*   ἐν ὑπομονῇ. 

**  Note: The prepositional phrase παρὰ τὴν ὀδόν is located at the beginning of Mark 4:15 // Luke 8:12 while it occurs only at the end of Matt 13:19.

***  Note: Early Egyptian codices -- including Sinaiticus & Vaticanus (4th c. CE) -- generally have the prepositional phrase εἰς αὐτούς at the end of Mark 4:15.  Most Byzantine texts & codex Bezae, however, read instead: ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις (plural) αὐτῶν.  Other mss., including a few Egyptian texts like Alexandrinus, have τῆς καρδίας (singular) αὐτῶν with some preposition other than "into". Which is more likely?:

  • some Egyptian scribe overlooked "heart" in the Markan text & substituted the logically awkward preposition "into" for "in"? Or
  • some Greek scribe "corrected"  the wording of Mark 4:15 to read more like Matt 13:19?

Color Code
 Blue  Three gospels use same vocabulary.
 Teal  Two gospels use same vocabulary.
 Black  Words unique to a particular gospel.
*  Same wording, different order.

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last revised 28 February 2023

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