Some translations set poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to show that it is poetry. The ULB does this with the poetry in 13:14-15, which is from the Old Testament.
Speakers usually do not say things that they think their hearers already understand. When Matthew wrote that Jesus "sat beside the sea" ([Matthew 13:1](../../mat/13/01.md)), he probably expected his hearers to know that Jesus was about to teach the people. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit]])
Speakers often use words for things that can be touched to speak of things that cannot be touched. Jesus spoke of a bird eating a seed to describe how Satan kept people from understanding Jesus's message ([Matthew 13:19](../../mat/13/19.md)).
Many sentences in this chapter tell that a person had something happen to him without saying who caused that something to happen. For example, "they were scorched" ([Matthew 13:6](../../mat/13/06.md)). You may have to translate the sentence so that it tells the reader who performed the action. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-activepassive]])
The parables were short stories that Jesus told so that people would easily understand the lesson he was trying to teach them. He also told the stories so that those who did not want to believe in him would not understand the truth ([Matthew 13:11-13](./11.md)).
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