Hear then is literally “You therefore hear,” in which “You” is placed in the position of emphasis, as is “your” in verse 16. Both New English Bible (“You, then, may hear…”) and Jerusalem Bible (“You, therefore, are to hear…”) reflect very closely the Greek sentence structure. The “You” refers to the disciples as opposed to the crowds of people who were thronging around Jesus.

A literal translation of the remainder of this verse is confusing, for it gives the impression to the reader that Jesus is about to tell the parable: Hear then the parable of the sower. Jesus is not calling upon his disciples to hear the parable again, but to understand its meaning. Good News Translation tries to bring this out by translating “Listen, then, and learn what the parable of the sower means.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “I will tell you what the parable of the sower means.”

It is interesting to note that there are languages, for example many in West Africa, where Hear commonly is used to mean “understand.” Readers will have little difficulty with a literal rendering. However, in most other cases something like Good News Translation or Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch will be better. Other possibilities are “Now, therefore, listen to the meaning…” or “Therefore you should listen now to the meaning….”

For comments on parable and sower, see Matthew 13.3.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .