Parable
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
parabole means a parable, comparison, illustration, figure, or proverb-like saying placed alongside reality to teach. In the Gospels it most often names Jesus' kingdom teaching through stories, images, and comparisons that both reveal and test.
Reader summary
Full entry for παραβολή (G3850) · Open the biblical lexicon
parabole means a parable, comparison, illustration, figure, or proverb-like saying placed alongside reality to teach. In the Gospels it most often names Jesus' kingdom teaching through stories, images, and comparisons that both reveal and test.
The BSB source-word alignment has 50 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include parable (20), parables (15), a parable (9), lesson (2), [this] parable (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 13:3. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (18), Matthew (17), Mark (13), Hebrews (2).
Parabole means a parable, comparison, illustration, figure, or proverb-like saying placed alongside reality to teach. In the Gospels it most often names Jesus' kingdom teaching through stories, images, and comparisons that both reveal and test. Parables are not merely simple earthly stories with one moral; they can disclose the mystery of the kingdom, expose hard hearts, invite repentance, confront leaders, comfort disciples, or train watchfulness.
Hebrews can also use the term for an illustration tied to tabernacle worship. The interpreter should attend to audience, narrative setting, explanation, Old Testament echoes, and response, because parables are designed to make hearers hear rightly under Jesus' authority.
The selected passages show Jesus teaching in parables, disciples asking why, parables given as kingdom revelation and judgment, pastoral adaptation to hearers, repentance stories, and Hebrews' use of illustration.
And He told them many things in parables, saying, “A farmer went out to sow his seed.
Jesus tells many things in parables, beginning with the sower. The mode of teaching uses story and comparison to address the hearer's response to the word.
Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”
The disciples ask why Jesus speaks in parables. The question shows that parables require interpretation and are tied to Jesus' teaching purpose.
With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand.
Jesus speaks the word with many such parables to the extent people could understand. Parables can graciously accommodate hearers while still demanding response.
He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’
Jesus links parables with the knowledge of kingdom mysteries and with judgment on resistant hearing. Parables reveal and conceal according to response.
Then Jesus told them this parable:
Jesus tells a parable in response to grumbling over His reception of sinners. The form serves repentance, mercy, and the joy of recovery.
It is an illustration for the present time, because the gifts and sacrifices being offered were unable to cleanse the conscience of the worshiper.
Hebrews uses parabole for an illustration concerning tabernacle worship. The term can extend beyond Gospel story-parables to illustrative correspondence.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A comparison or illustration drawn from nature and human life to teach spiritual truth.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 50 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read versea parable, comparison
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 6 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 50 lexical occurrence verses.
παραβολή is built from this root:
Defines the literary method of kingdom revelation.
Reveals kingdom truth through imagery requiring discernment.Mark 4:1–9
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Parabole is one of the main words for Jesus' comparison-based teaching. A parable places one thing alongside another so that hearers must see, hear, and respond. In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches the crowds through parables and the disciples ask why. Luke 8 explains that parables disclose kingdom mysteries to disciples while also exposing resistant hearing. Mark 4 adds that Jesus spoke the word with many parables as hearers were able to receive it.
Luke 15 shows the form at work pastorally: Jesus answers grumbling leaders with stories that reveal God's joy over the lost. Hebrews 9 shows the broader illustrative use of the word in relation to tabernacle worship. Parables therefore are not decorations around doctrine. They are Jesus' authoritative way of revealing the kingdom, confronting the heart, and training disciples to hear the word rightly.
Luke.8.10
Parabole can mean parable, comparison, illustration, figure, or proverb. Its form depends on genre and context. In the Gospels, it often signals Jesus' kingdom teaching; in Hebrews it can mean an illustrative correspondence.
Old Testament prophets use stories, riddles, symbolic acts, and comparisons to confront Israel and reveal God's ways. Jesus' parables continue prophetic teaching but center the mystery and arrival of God's kingdom in His own ministry.