He spoke to them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.' All these things Jesus spoke in parables to the crowds; and with many such parables He spoke to them the word, as they were able to hear, and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 'I will open My mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.' And the disciples coming said to Him: 'Why do you speak to them in parables?' And answering He said to them:
'Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.' But apart He expounded all things to His disciples. 'Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet, who says: By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear:
'For amen I say to you, that many prophets and just men have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them.'