Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Matthew 13:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Calls disciples to hear the sower parable's explanation.
Read It With
- Matthew 13:18–13:23
Matthew 13:18 calls disciples to hear the sower parable's explanation; within Matthew 13:18–13:23, it contributes to this controlling movement: Jesus identifies the seed with kingdom hearing and traces loss through nonunderstanding, shallow endurance, pressure, wealth's deceit, and receptive fruitfulness.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Calls disciples to hear the sower parable's explanation. This precise contribution belongs inside “Jesus explains the soils as responses to the word” because Jesus identifies the seed with kingdom hearing and traces loss through nonunderstanding, shallow endurance, pressure, wealth's deceit, and receptive fruitfulness.
Read Matthew 13:18–23 together
Why these verses belong together: Each soil explains part of the preceding parable's range of hearing and response.
Verse 18. 18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Verse 19. 19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Verse 20. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Verse 21. 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Verse 22. 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Verse 23. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Follow the Context
- Jesus identifies the seed with kingdom hearing and traces loss through nonunderstanding, shallow endurance, pressure, wealth's deceit, and receptive fruitfulness.
- The interpretation names changing reception patterns, not fixed human categories; pressure and wealth are real forces, while fruit remains varied.
- This explanation does not blame persecuted people, condemn wealth without examining its mastery, fix people into types, or quantify spiritual worth.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This explanation does not blame persecuted people, condemn wealth without examining its mastery, fix people into types, or quantify spiritual worth.
What Remains True
Because Matthew 13:18 calls disciples to hear the sower parable's explanation, faithful readers should preserve this verse's exact role, first setting, affected people, and the complete movement of Matthew 13:18–13:23 before naming an enduring conclusion.
How It Can Shape Life
- For Matthew 13:18, first state this verse-specific contribution—calls disciples to hear the sower parable's explanation; then explain it inside Matthew 13:18–13:23; preserve the source-controlled uncertainty—The interpretation names changing reception patterns, not fixed human categories; pressure and wealth are real forces, while fruit remains varied.; and refuse this misuse: This explanation does not blame persecuted people, condemn wealth without examining its mastery, fix people into types, or quantify spiritual worth.
Teach It Back
Explain how Matthew 13:18 calls disciples to hear the sower parable's explanation. Then identify its speaker or narrator, first Jewish and scriptural setting, one affected person, the material uncertainty, and the specific conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Matthew 13:18–13:23 — Jesus explains the soils as responses to the wordSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The interpretation names changing reception patterns, not fixed human categories; pressure and wealth are real forces, while fruit remains varied.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Matthew 13:18–13:23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control without treating one edition as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file data/sblgnt/text/Matt.txt, Matthew 13:18–13:23
Open the Matthew Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for the expressions actually discussed in this thought unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data TAGNT rows for Matthew 13:18–13:23
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Matthew with Translators' and Textual Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, historical, Jewish-background, and Synoptic notes for this unit.
Exact location: NET Bible Matthew PDF, printed pp. 1808-1867, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 13:18–13:23
Open source ↗open university bible study course
The Gospel of Matthew Course and Study Guides
Harold W. Attridge and Michal Beth Dinkler
Yale Bible Study, Yale Divinity School, current 2026 online edition
Supports: Critical literary orientation with source, setting, historical, and theological judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, course unit 'Controversies and Parables,' Matthew 12-13 study guide
Open source ↗open seminary bible study course
Matthew Course
James L. Boyce; revised by Kristofer Phan Coffman
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2023 revision
Supports: Whole-book orientation and unit placement, including visible uncertainty about authorship, date, setting, and purpose.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Matthew course, 'Summary,' 'Outline,' 'Background,' 'Introductory Issues,' 'Theological Themes,' and passage index entry for Matthew 13:18–13:23
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
Matthew
Douglas Sean O'Donnell
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, current 2026 online edition
Supports: One complete confessional reading checked against the text, critical scholarship, and Jewish-context controls.
Exact location: O'Donnell, online Matthew commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Matthew 13:18–13:23
Open source ↗scholarly annotated translation
Matthew, in The Jewish Annotated New Testament
Aaron M. Gale; edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
Aaron M. Gale, Matthew introduction and annotations, print pp. 1-54; related essays and sidebars in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, first edition.
Supports: Jewish setting, Scripture, Torah debate, named groups, practices, and anti-Judaism control at the passage address.
Exact location: Gale, Matthew introduction and verse-addressed annotations, first-edition print pp. 1-54, exact annotation at Matthew 13:18–13:23
Open source ↗open access scholarly essay collection
Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel
Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner, editors
SBL Press, 2020
Supports: Specialist control for Matthew's Jewish setting, Torah, Israel and nations, polemic, parables, Passion, resurrection, or mission as material to Matthew 13:18–13:23.
Exact location: Runesson on Israel and the nations, printed pp. 103-133; Levine, concluding safeguards, pp. 449-466
Open source ↗