Section 13:31–35

Jesus told the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast

In this section, Jesus told two parables: the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast. These parables show something about the growth and size of God’s kingdom.

The parable about the mustard seed shows that God’s kingdom will grow from a very small beginning to a very large size. The size of God’s kingdom represents the number of people in the kingdom.

The parable of the yeast shows that God’s kingdom will spread throughout the world.

There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 4:30–32 and Luke 13:18–21.

Paragraph 13:31–32

13:31a

He put before them another parable: This clause is exactly the same as the clause in 13:24a.

Here are some other ways to translate it:

He told them another parable (New International Version)
-or-
This is another parable he gave them (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Then Jesus told another story (New Century Version)

13:31b–c

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed: This clause is a simile. It compares the kingdom of God to what happens when a mustard seed is planted. The Jewish people considered the mustard seed to be one of their smallest seeds. However, the mustard plant can grow to be a tree as large as three meters high.

The point of similarity in this comparison is the growth from something small to something large. Like the mustard plant, the kingdom of God is very small at its beginning, but it becomes very large.

The comparison is about the whole growth process, not just what the seed is like. One way to make this clear is:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a farmer plants a mustard seed in a field. (Contemporary English Version)

13:31b

The kingdom of heaven: This phrase last occurred in 13:24b. You should translate it here as you did there.

is like: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as is like is very similar to the word translated as “is like” in 13:24b. This phrase introduces a comparison. Here Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

can be compared to
-or-
resembles

a mustard seed: The Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek phrase literally as a mustard seed. To Jewish people, the mustard seed was a symbol of smallness.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

• Use your word for seed and transliterate the word mustard according to the sounds of your language. For example:

a musutarade seed
-or-
a seed of ⌊the plant/tree called⌋ mutar

• Use a generic phrase. For example:

a tiny seed

• Use the name of a local seed that is known to be very small, but grows into a tree. If you use this option, you may want to indicate the literal name in a footnote. Here is a sample footnote:

The Greek text is literally “a mustard seed.”

Regardless of the way you translate mustard seed, you may want to add a footnote that explains the significance of mustard seed in the Jewish culture. For example:

For the Jews, the mustard seed was a symbol of something that was very small. But the mustard seed that was planted in the country of the Jews grew into a tree that grew up to three meters high.

13:31c

that a man: Here, the Greek includes a verb that means “picked up in his hand.” In some languages it may be natural to leave this action implicit, as the Berean Standard Bible has done. In other languages, it may be natural to include this action. For example:

that a man took and sowed in his field (English Standard Version)

planted in his field: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as planted is the same word as the word “sowed” throughout the parable of the sower. This word first occurs in 13:3b. Here the man does not sow many seeds. He only sows one. The method of planting is not in focus here. So you may use whatever term is natural in your language for planting this kind of seed in a vegetable garden or field.

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