13:32a
it is the smallest of all seeds: The Greek text is literally “which is smaller than all the seeds.” The Greek text exaggerates the smallness of the seed to emphasize its smallness. This helps teach the point about the kingdom of God starting with only a few people.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
• Translate literally. For example:
It is the smallest of all seeds (Good News Translation)
• Explain the exaggeration. For example:
it is the smallest of all ⌊garden⌋ seeds
• Indicate in a general way that the mustard seed is a very small seed. For example:
It’s one of the smallest seeds (God’s Word)
-or-
It is a very small seed.
13:32b
yet: There is something unexpected here. We would expect a small seed to grow into a small plant. But a small mustard seed grows into a large plant.
Here are some ways to introduce this unexpected thing:
• Use a conjunction in 13:32b. For example:
However, when it has grown (God’s Word)
• Use a conjunction in 13:32a. For example:
32a
Although it is the smallest of all seeds, 32bit grows larger (Contemporary English Version)
Use whatever is natural in your language to indicate that something unexpected is about to be said.
it grows into the largest of garden plants: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as garden plants refers to vegetable and herb plants. These plants do not normally grow more than one meter high. However, the mustard plant can grow as high as three meters high. It was the largest plant that the Jews planted in their vegetable gardens.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
when it has grown, it is taller than the garden plants (God’s Word)
-or-
when it has grown, it is bigger than all the other plants in the vegetable garden
13:32c
becomes a tree: A mustard plant can grow up to three meters tall, and it has branches. It is more like a large shrub than a tree. Jesus said becomes a tree to make a strong connection to the Old Testament symbol of a great kingdom. (See more on this issue under the General Comment below.)
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
it grows into a tree (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
it grows big enough to be ⌊considered/called⌋ a tree
so that the birds of the air come: The phrase the birds of the air is the Jewish way of referring to “birds.” In many languages, it will be more natural to just say “birds.” For example:
so that birds come (Good News Translation)
-or-
that is large enough for birds (God’s Word)
and nest in its branches: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as nest means “live, dwell, settle.” Most English versions translate this word as “make nests” or as the verb “nest.”
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
perch in its branches (New International Version)
-or-
shelter in its branches (New Jerusalem Bible)
General Comment on 13:32
When a Jew heard about a tree so large that birds could come and make their nests in it, he would immediate think of some Old Testament passages (Ezekiel 17:23, Daniel 4:20–22) that had similar wording. Such passages were about great kingdoms. So a Jew would understand that Jesus was talking about the kingdom of heaven/God becoming a great kingdom.
You may need a footnote to explain the Jewish symbolism for the tree and birds. Here is a sample footnote:
In the Old Testament, God compared several great kingdoms to great trees that were so large that birds came and nested in its branches. When Jesus spoke of God’s kingdom being like a tree with birds perching in its branches, the Jews would quickly understand that God’s kingdom would become great as well.
© 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.