Jeremiah 24:1-10
After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD. / One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten. / “Jeremiah,” the LORD asked, “what do you see?” “Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.” ...

Isaiah 5:1-7
I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. / He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour! / “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. ...

Matthew 13:10-17
Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?” / He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. / Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ...

Hosea 12:10
I spoke through the prophets and multiplied their visions; I gave parables through the prophets.

Psalm 78:2
I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

Mark 4:33-34
With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand. / He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.

2 Samuel 12:1-7
Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. / The rich man had a great number of sheep and cattle, / but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms and was like a daughter to him. ...

Matthew 21:33-46
Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey. / When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit. / But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ...

Isaiah 6:9-10
And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Luke 8:9-10
Then His disciples asked Him what this parable meant. / 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.’

Jeremiah 18:1-10
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: / “Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will give you My message.” / So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel. ...

Matthew 13:34-35
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables. He did not tell them anything without using a parable. / So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

1 Kings 20:35-43
Meanwhile, by the word of the LORD, one of the sons of the prophets said to his companion, “Strike me, please!” But the man refused to strike him. / Then the prophet said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, as soon as you depart from me a lion will kill you.” And when he left, a lion found him and killed him. / Then the prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please!” So the man struck him and wounded him, ...

John 10:6
Jesus spoke to them using this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them.

Isaiah 28:23-29
Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say. / Does the plowman plow for planting every day? Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil? / When he has leveled its surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, and rye within its border. ...