Verse
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

Matthew 13:39
ESV and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
NIV and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
NASB and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
CSB and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
NLT The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.
KJV The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
NKJV The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

What does Matthew 13:39 mean?

Jesus is explaining to His disciples the parable He told to the crowd about the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30). He has said the one who sows good seed into a field represents Himself, the Son of Man (Matthew 13:37). The field itself is the whole world, and the good wheat seeds being sown are the sons of the kingdom, those who will become the citizens of God's eternal kingdom. Jesus identified the weeds as the sons of the evil one (Matthew 13:38), leaving only two eternal categories for humanity: those who belong to God and those who belong to Satan.

Now He adds that the Devil is the one who planted the weeds among the good wheat seeds. It is because of the enemy that those who belong to Satan exist alongside those who belong to God in the world. However, the harvest will come eventually. In the parable itself, the farmer waits to uproot the weeds until the harvest, at which time they will be sorted out and burned (Matthew 13:30). Jesus describes that harvest as the end of the age, the prophesied time of God's judgment, sometimes called the "day of the Lord." Jesus now says that those who will harvest the field, the reapers, will be His angels. Jesus describes their grim work in the following verses.
Expand
Context Summary
Matthew 13:36–43 follows Jesus away from the crowds and back into a house with His disciples. They ask Him to explain the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30). Jesus tells them He is the farmer, and the field is the world. The good wheat seeds represent the children of the kingdom, and the weeds—also known as "tares," likely an inedible plant that looks like wheat—are the children of the Devil who planted them. The harvest is the judgment at the end of the age. Then the reapers, God's angels, will gather all the wicked and all forms of sin and throw them into the fiery furnace. The righteous, though, will shine in the kingdom of their Father.
Expand
Chapter Summary
Matthew 13 focuses mainly on a series of parables. Jesus first describes these to a large crowd along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Later, in a house, He explains to the disciples the meanings of the parables of the sower, the weeds, and the fish caught in the net. Jesus then travels to Nazareth, teaches in the synagogue, and is rejected by the people of His original hometown.
Expand
What is the Gospel?
Download the app: