37 ^rThen he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ^spray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to ^tsend out laborers into his harvest.”

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, ^w“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds¹ among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants² of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ^x‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 Then he left the crowds and went into ⁱthe house. And his disciples came to him, saying, ^j“Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is ^kthe sons of the kingdom. The weeds are ^lthe sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. ^mThe harvest is ⁿthe end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds ^oare gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at ⁿthe end of the age. 41 ^pThe Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all ^qcauses of sin and ^rall law-breakers, 42 ^sand throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^tthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then ^uthe righteous will shine like the sun ^vin the kingdom of their Father. ^wHe who has ears, let him hear.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

1 After this the Lord appointed ^xseventy-two¹ others and ^ysent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 ^zAnd he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ^aTherefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

34 Jesus said to them, ^m“My food is ⁿto do the will of him who sent me and ^oto accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^pthe fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that ^qsower and ^rreaper ^smay rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ^t‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap ^uthat for which you did not labor. Others have labored, ^vand you have entered into their labor.”