The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Legend:
High overlap
Moderate overlap
Low overlap
Matthew 13:31–32
13:31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; 86%
13:32 which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” 86%
Mark 4:30–32
4:30 He said, “How will we liken God’s Kingdom? Or with what parable will we illustrate it? 79%
4:31 It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, 67%
4:32 yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.” 80%
Luke 13:18–19
13:18 He said, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? 92%
13:19 It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.” 82%
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
—
46%
49%
Mk
46%
—
40%
Lk
49%
40%
—
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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.