Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, "Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?"

For the person who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he has.

Jesus again used parables in talking to the people.

"Let the fig tree teach you a lesson. When its branches become green and tender and it starts putting out leaves, you know that summer is near.

Once upon a time the trees went out to choose a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, 'Be our king.'

Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come and be our king.'

So the trees then said to the grapevine, 'You come and be our king.'

So then all the trees said to the thorn bush, 'You come and be our king.'

"Now then," Jotham continued, "were you really honest and sincere when you made Abimelech king? Did you respect Gideon's memory and treat his family properly, as his actions deserved?

But today you turned against my father's family. You killed his sons---seventy men on a single stone---and just because Abimelech, his son by his servant woman, is your relative, you have made him king of Shechem.

But if not, may fire blaze out from Abimelech and burn up the men of Shechem and Bethmillo. May fire blaze out from the men of Shechem and Bethmillo and burn Abimelech up."

The LORD sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to him and said, "There were two men who lived in the same town; one was rich and the other poor.

while the poor man had only one lamb, which he had bought. He took care of it, and it grew up in his home with his children. He would feed it some of his own food, let it drink from his cup, and hold it in his lap. The lamb was like a daughter to him.

David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die!

"You are that man," Nathan said to David. "And this is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul.

I will turn my attention to proverbs and explain their meaning as I play the harp.

I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past,

Listen while I sing you this song, a song of my friend and his vineyard: My friend had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

So now my friend says, "You people who live in Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me.

"Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge around it, break down the wall that protects it, and let wild animals eat it and trample it down.

Israel is the vineyard of the LORD Almighty; the people of Judah are the vines he planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.

"Mortal man," he said, "tell the Israelites a parable

But I protested, "Sovereign LORD, don't make me do it! Everyone is already complaining that I always speak in riddles."

Tell my rebellious people this parable that I, the Sovereign LORD, have for them: Set the pot on the fire and fill it up with water.

Use the meat of the finest sheep; pile the wood under the pot. Let the water boil; boil the bones and the meat."

There was murder in the city, but the blood was not spilled on the ground where the dust could hide it; it was spilled on a bare rock.

This is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: "The city of murderers is doomed! I myself will pile up the firewood.

Now set the empty bronze pot on the coals and let it get red-hot. Then the pot will be ritually pure again after the corrosion is burned off,

Jerusalem, your immoral actions have defiled you. Although I tried to purify you, you remained defiled. You will not be pure again until you have felt the full force of my anger.

When that time comes, people will use the story about you as an example of disaster, and they will sing this song of despair about your experience: We are completely ruined! The LORD has taken our land away And given it to those who took us captive."

The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, "You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?"

So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?

He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them:

Then Jesus asked them, "Don't you understand this parable? How, then, will you ever understand any parable?

Jesus preached his message to the people, using many other parables like these; he told them as much as they could understand.

Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: "Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip.

The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

and he answered, "The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God has been given to you, but to the rest it comes by means of parables, so that they may look but not see, and listen but not understand.

Peter said, "Lord, does this parable apply to us, or do you mean it for everyone?"

So Jesus told them this parable:

When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders

In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.

"I have used figures of speech to tell you these things. But the time will come when I will not use figures of speech, but will speak to you plainly about the Father.

He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them:

As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

Then, when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up.

But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and bore grain: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others one hundred."

"Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it up.

Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up with the plants and choked them.