He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts], but those who are outside [the unbelievers, the spiritually blind] get everything in parables,

Philip ran up and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

The words

The words of the wise are like [prodding] goads, and these collected sayings are [firmly fixed in the mind] like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.

Dark

I will incline my ear and consent to a proverb;
On the lyre I will unfold my riddle.

I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples];
I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]—

All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables, and He said nothing to them without [using] a parable.

But solid food is for the [spiritually] mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between what is morally good and what is evil.

speaking about these things as he does in all of his letters. In which there are some things that are difficult to understand, which the untaught and unstable [who have fallen into error] twist and misinterpret, just as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

General references

Then you will understand righteousness and justice [in every circumstance]
And integrity and every good path.