Matthew 13:48 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.

NIV: When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.

NASB: and when it was filled, they pulled it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.

CSB: and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones.

NLT: When the net was full, they dragged it up onto the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away.

KJV: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

NKJV: which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.

In one of the final parables included in this chapter, Jesus once again compares the kingdom of heaven to something His listeners in and around Capernaum would have known well. In this case, the symbolism comes from fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Specifically, Jesus describes fishing with a net. This style of fishing takes many forms. Sometimes a net is stretched between two boats, or between a boat and the shore, and then dragged along the bottom of the lake. In other cases, a circular net is thrown flat onto the water and pulled down by weights. Either method results in a variety of animals being captured; not everything caught in the net is something the fishermen want or need.

What happens next is common sense, but in the context of the parable it carries an important lesson (Matthew 13:49). The contents of the net are sorted. Some are considered good, meaning they're worth eating or selling. Others are bad, meaning unusable for anything at all. The fishermen do the work of sorting through all the different kinds of fish and throwing the bad ones away while saving out the good in special containers.

Every Israelite had likely observed this process. This would have amplified the impression the parable made on those who understood the idea behind it.

Matthew 13:47–50 contains a parable about fisherman. This is closely related to the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30). Fishermen use a dragnet to bring up a large catch, which includes many kinds of fish, good and bad. The workers sort the fish, discarding those which are "bad." Jesus immediately explains that this is like the angels who will come and separate the evil from the righteous at the end of the age. They will throw those who reject faith in Christ into the fiery furnace where there is anguish and misery.

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.

Matthew 13 follows Jesus from the overcrowded house at the end of the previous chapter to a crowded beach on the Sea of Galilee. He teaches a large crowd in a series of parables, which He doesn't fully explain. However, He reveals their meaning to His disciples inside a nearby house. Jesus pictures the kingdom of heaven as a sower, a sabotaged field of wheat, a mustard seed, and a pearl dealer, among other things. He then travels to His original hometown of Nazareth where He is rejected by the people He grew up with. This leads Matthew back to depictions of Jesus' miracles, after sadly recording John the Baptist's death.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.