32 Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering.
33 At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated.
34 You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.
35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense.
36 You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.
37 “For, after just a brief moment, he who is to come shall come; he shall not delay.
38 But my just one shall live by faith, and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him.”
39 We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life.
26 He said,”This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
27 and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.
28 Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29 And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”
30 He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?
31 It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
32 But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
34 Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
