24 Then he told them another illustrated story: "The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who sowed good seeds in his field. 25 But while his workers were sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weed seeds* on top of the wheat. Then they left. 26 So when the wheat grew and produced ears of grain, the weeds also grew up. 27 The farmer’s workers came and asked him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seeds in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’

28 ‘Some enemy has done this,’ he replied. ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him. 29 ‘No,’ he answered, ‘as you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat too. 30 Let them both grow until harvest, and then at harvest-time I’ll tell the reapers to first gather the weeds, tie them up into bundles and burn them, and then gather the wheat and store it in my barn.’"