Bible Strands
Matthew 13:39
and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus explains the parable of the weeds to His disciples, following His definition of the field as the world and the weeds as the sons of the evil one.
The words — The text identifies the sower of the weeds as ἐχθρὸς (echthros), meaning "the enemy," and notes he is the one who σπείρας (speiras), "having sown" them.
The thread — This harvest imagery connects to Matthew 13:49, where angels separate the wicked from the righteous, and Revelation 14:15, where an angel swings a sickle at the end of the age.
Why it lands — The text states the enemy sows evil, the harvest marks the end of the age, and angels execute the reaping. This demands a reader to accept that current evil is temporarily permitted until a final, angel-executed judgment concludes history.
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
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Cross-references
- Matthew 13:49 So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous
- Revelation 14:15 Then another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the One seated on the cloud, “Swing Your sickle and reap, because the time has come to harvest, for the crop of the earth is ripe.”
- Matthew 25:31 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.
- Joel 3:13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full; the wine vats overflow because their wickedness is great.
- Revelation 19:20 But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
- Matthew 13:25 But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped away.
- Matthew 24:3 While Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7 and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels
- Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
- Revelation 13:14 Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.