SEV Biblia, Chapter 13:4
Y sembrando, parte de la simiente cay junto al camino; y vinieron las aves, y la comieron.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 13:4
Verse 4. Some seeds fell by the way side] The hard beaten path, where no plough had broken up the ground.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. And when he sowed , etc.] Or, as he sowed, as the other evangelists; that is, whilst he was sowing, some seeds fell ; either out of his hand, or out of the cart drawn by oxen; hence the Talmudists distinguish between dy tlwpm , the falling of the hand, or what falls out of the hand; and yrww tlwpm , the falling of the oxen, or what falls from them; where the gloss is, in some places they sow the grain with the hand; and in other places they put the seed on a cart full of holes, and oxen draw the cart on the ploughed land, and it falls upon it. By the wayside ; by the common road, or private paths, which led through corn fields, in which Christ and his disciples walked, ( Matthew 12:1) and which being beaten and trodden hard, the seed must lie open on it, and so be liable to be trampled upon by men, or devoured by the fowls of the air; and designs such hearers as are careless, negligent, and inattentive, who hear without understanding, judgment, and affection; (see Matthew 13:19) and the fowls came and devoured them ; the other evangelists say, the fowls of the air; and so the Vulgate Latin, and Munsters Hebrew Gospel, and some copies; and mean the devils; so called, because their habitation is in the air; hence they are said to be the power of the air: and because of their ravenous and devouring nature, their swiftness to do mischief, and their flocking in multitudes, where the word is preached, to hinder its usefulness, as fowls do, where seed is sowing. Satan, and his principalities, and powers, rove about in the air, come down on earth, and seek whom they may devour, and often mix themselves in religious assemblies, to do what mischief they can; (see Job 1:6,7).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-23 - Jesus entered into a boat that he might be the less pressed, and be the better heard by the people. By this he teaches us in the outwar circumstances of worship not to covet that which is stately, but to make the best of the conveniences God in his providence allots to us Christ taught in parables. Thereby the things of God were made mor plain and easy to those willing to be taught, and at the same time mor difficult and obscure to those who were willingly ignorant. The parabl of the sower is plain. The seed sown is the word of God. The sower in our Lord Jesus Christ, by himself, or by his ministers. Preaching to multitude is sowing the corn; we know not where it will light. Some sort of ground, though we take ever so much pains with it, brings fort no fruit to purpose, while the good soil brings forth plentifully. S it is with the hearts of men, whose different characters are her described by four sorts of ground. Careless, trifling hearers, are a easy prey to Satan; who, as he is the great murderer of souls, so he is the great thief of sermons, and will be sure to rob us of the word, i we take not care to keep it. Hypocrites, like the stony ground, ofte get the start of true Christians in the shows of profession. Many ar glad to hear a good sermon, who do not profit by it. They are told of free salvation, of the believer's privileges, and the happiness of heaven; and, without any change of heart, without any abidin conviction of their own depravity, their need of a Saviour, or the excellence of holiness, they soon profess an unwarranted assurance. But when some heavy trial threatens them, or some sinful advantage may be had, they give up or disguise their profession, or turn to some easie system. Worldly cares are fitly compared to thorns, for they came i with sin, and are a fruit of the curse; they are good in their place to stop a gap, but a man must be well armed that has much to do with them they are entangling, vexing, scratching, and their end is to be burned Heb 6:8. Worldly cares are great hinderances to our profiting by the word of God. The deceitfulness of riches does the mischief; they cannot be said to deceive us unless we put our trust in them, then they chok the good seed. What distinguished the good ground was fruitfulness. But these true Christians are distinguished from hypocrites. Christ does no say that this good ground has no stones in it, or no thorns; but non that could hinder its fruitfulness. All are not alike; we should aim a the highest, to bring forth most fruit. The sense of hearing cannot be better employed than in hearing God's word; and let us look to ourselves that we may know what sort of hearers we are.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 CONJ εν 1722 PREP τω 3588 T-DSN σπειρειν 4687 5721 V-PAN αυτον 846 P-ASM α 3739 R-NPN μεν 3303 PRT επεσεν 4098 5627 V-2AAI-3S παρα 3844 PREP την 3588 T-ASF οδον 3598 N-ASF και 2532 CONJ ηλθεν 2064 5627 V-2AAI-3S τα 3588 T-NPN πετεινα 4071 N-NPN και 2532 CONJ κατεφαγεν 2719 5627 V-2AAI-3S αυτα 846 P-APN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
4. By the wayside. Dean Stanley, approaching the plain of Gennesareth, says: "A slight recess in the hillside, close upon the plain, disclosed at once, in detail and with a conjunction which I remember nowhere else in Palestine, every feature of the great parable. There was the undulating cornfield descending to the water's edge. There was the trodden pathway running through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from falling here and there on either side of it or upon it; itself hard with the constant tramp of horse and mule and human feet. There was the 'good' rich soil which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighborhood from the bare hills elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn. There was the rocky ground of the hillside protruding here and there through the cornfields, as elsewhere through the grassy slopes. There were the large bushes of thorn - the nabk, that kind of which tradition says that the crown of thorns was woven - springing up, like the fruit-trees of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat" ("Sinai and Palestine").
Robertson's NT Word Studies
13:4 {As he sowed} (en twi speirein auton). Literally, "in the sowing as to him," a neat Greek idiom unlike our English temporal conjunction. Locative case with the articular present infinitive. {By the wayside} (para tn hodon). People will make paths along the edge of a ploughed field or even across it where the seed lies upon the beaten track. {Devoured} (katefagen). "Ate down." We say, "ate up." Second aorist active indicative of katesqiw (defective verb).
