Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G Message"Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and nest in its branches."
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.G"It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it becomes greater than all garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and make nests in its branches."
KJV
King James VersionWhich indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleAlthough it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Footnotes
The birds-nesting-in-branches image deliberately echoes Ezekiel 17:23, Ezekiel 31:6, and Daniel 4:12, where a great world-kingdom is depicted as a tree sheltering all nations in its branches — Yeshua's hearers would have caught this immediately. ta peteina tou ouranou ('birds of the sky/heaven') carried that Gentile-nations-gathering connotation in Jewish prophetic tradition. The 'tree' is also hyperbolic — mustard doesn't become a true tree — underscoring that the Kingdom's growth is miraculous and unexpected.
