||And he said: “The kingdom of God is like this: it is as if a man were to cast seed on the land.
||And he sleeps and he arises, night and day. And the seed germinates and grows, though he does not know it.
||For the earth bears fruit readily: first the plant, then the ear, next the full grain in the ear.
||And when the fruit has been produced, immediately he sends out the sickle, because the harvest has arrived.”
||And he said: “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or to what parable should we compare it?
||It is like a grain of mustard seed which, when it has been sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds which are in the earth.
||And when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all the plants, and it produces great branches, so much so that the birds of the air are able to live under its shadow.”
||And with many such parables he spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to hear.
||But he did not speak to them without a parable. Yet separately, he explained all things to his disciples.