³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.^{(A) 38} The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,^{(B) 39} and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest^(C) is the end of the age,^(D) and the harvesters are angels.^(E)

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man^(F) will send out his angels,^(G) and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(H)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like.^(A) A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷ Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸ All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ²⁹ As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”^(B)