The Purpose of the Parables
Legend:
High overlap
Moderate overlap
Low overlap
Matthew 13:10–17
13:10 The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 75%
13:11 He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. 79%
13:12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. 35%
13:13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. 63%
13:14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive: 68%
13:15 for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’ 62%
13:16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. 62%
13:17 For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them. 43%
Mark 4:10–12
4:10 When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 50%
4:11 He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables, 86%
4:12 that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’ ” 89%
Luke 8:9–10
8:9 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?” 83%
8:10 He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest in parables; that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 96%
Verbatim Agreement
Percentage of words that appear identically (same form and position) across gospel pairs.
Strong's Number Overlap
How much of each gospel's vocabulary (by Strong's number) is shared with another.
Mt
Mk
Lk
Mt
—
26%
31%
Mk
26%
—
45%
Lk
31%
45%
—
Unique Vocabulary
Strong's numbers that appear only in one gospel for this pericope.
Matthew (36)
Explore the texts yourself
Every word in the synoptic gospels links back to its Greek lexicon entry. See what the gospel writers actually wrote.
Morphological data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.