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Mark 4:2-9
He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:“ Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”Then Jesus said,“ Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (niv)
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Matthew 13:53
When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. (niv)
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Mark 12:12
Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away. (niv)
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Mark 4:33
With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. (niv)
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Mark 4:13
Then Jesus said to them,“ Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? (niv)
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2 Samuel 12 1-2 Samuel 12 7
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said,“ There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.“ Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan,“ As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die!He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”Then Nathan said to David,“ You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:‘ I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. (niv)
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Matthew 13:34-35
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:“ I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” (niv)
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Luke 8:5-8
“ A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up.Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants.Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out,“ Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (niv)
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Matthew 13:10-13
The disciples came to him and asked,“ Why do you speak to the people in parables?”He replied,“ Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.This is why I speak to them in parables:“ Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. (niv)
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Ezekiel 20:49
Then I said,“ Sovereign Lord, they are saying of me,‘ Isn’t he just telling parables?’” (niv)
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Matthew 24:32
“ Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. (niv)
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Micah 2:4
In that day people will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song:‘ We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’” (niv)
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Luke 12:41
Peter asked,“ Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?” (niv)
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Judges 9:8-20
One day the trees went out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree,‘ Be our king.’“ But the olive tree answered,‘ Should I give up my oil, by which both gods and humans are honored, to hold sway over the trees?’“ Next, the trees said to the fig tree,‘ Come and be our king.’“ But the fig tree replied,‘ Should I give up my fruit, so good and sweet, to hold sway over the trees?’“ Then the trees said to the vine,‘ Come and be our king.’“ But the vine answered,‘ Should I give up my wine, which cheers both gods and humans, to hold sway over the trees?’“ Finally all the trees said to the thornbush,‘ Come and be our king.’“ The thornbush said to the trees,‘ If you really want to anoint me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, then let fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!’“ Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub- Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves?Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian.But today you have revolted against my father’s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you.So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub- Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too!But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!” (niv)
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Isaiah 5:1-7
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.“ Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. (niv)
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John 16:25
“ Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. (niv)
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Luke 15:3-7
Then Jesus told them this parable:“ Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety- nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shouldersand goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says,‘ Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (niv)
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Mark 3:23
So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:“ How can Satan drive out Satan? (niv)
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Mark 12:1
Jesus then began to speak to them in parables:“ A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. (niv)
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Ezekiel 24:3-14
Tell this rebellious people a parable and say to them:‘ This is what the Sovereign Lord says:“‘ Put on the cooking pot; put it on and pour water into it.Put into it the pieces of meat, all the choice pieces— the leg and the shoulder. Fill it with the best of these bones;take the pick of the flock. Pile wood beneath it for the bones; bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it.“‘ For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“‘ Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now encrusted, whose deposit will not go away! Take the meat out piece by piece in whatever order it comes.“‘ For the blood she shed is in her midst: She poured it on the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground, where the dust would cover it.To stir up wrath and take revenge I put her blood on the bare rock, so that it would not be covered.“‘ Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“‘ Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the wood high.So heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred.Then set the empty pot on the coals till it becomes hot and its copper glows, so that its impurities may be melted and its deposit burned away.It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire.“‘ Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided.“‘ I the Lord have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not hold back; I will not have pity, nor will I relent. You will be judged according to your conduct and your actions, declares the Sovereign Lord.’” (niv)
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Matthew 22:1
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: (niv)
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Luke 8:10
He said,“ The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,“‘ though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ (niv)
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Psalms 78:2
I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old— (niv)
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Psalms 49:4
I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle: (niv)
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Ezekiel 17:2
“ Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell it to the Israelites as a parable. (niv)
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Habakkuk 2:6
“ Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,“‘ Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ (niv)