Luke 13:19

It is like a mustard seed that a man tossed into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses his immediate audience in Luke 13 to illustrate the nature of the kingdom of God. He poses a comparison question in verse 18, delivers this answer, and then introduces a second comparison in verse 20.

The words — The text employs ὁμοία (homoia) for "like" and ἔβαλεν (ebalen) for "cast" or "tossed" to describe the man's action. These terms frame the comparison as a deliberate act of planting rather than a natural occurrence.

The thread — The image of a large tree sheltering birds runs in Daniel 4:12 and Ezekiel 17:22, where expansive kingdoms or divine actions are compared to great trees. The rapid development from a tiny seed to a substantial structure parallels the unstoppable expansion described in Daniel 2:44.

Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that the kingdom of God begins with a small, human-planted action but results in a widespread, structural reality. It requires the reader to accept that divine expansion operates through ordinary, deliberate steps rather than immediate grandeur.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

Cross-references

Daniel 4:12 Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and upon it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, in its branches the birds of the air nested, and from it every creature was fed.
Ezekiel 17:22 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take a shoot from the lofty top of the cedar, and I will set it out. I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
Daniel 2:44 In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.
Daniel 4:21 whose foliage was beautiful and whose fruit was abundant, providing food for all, under which the beasts of the field lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air nested—
Zechariah 2:11 “On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.
Matthew 13:31 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field.
Mark 4:31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds sown upon the earth.
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.
Ezekiel 31:6 All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade.
Daniel 2:34 As you watched, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.