9 Bible Verses about Old Testament Parables

The trees went forth a time to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness with which by me they honor God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.read more.
But the fig tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? And the trees said to the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said to them, Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? Then all the trees said to the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

And LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him, and with his sons. It ate of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was tread more.
And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man who came to him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man who came to him.

And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed b

Let me sing for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he dug it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought fo And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard.read more.
What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge of it, and it shall be eaten up. I will break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor hoed, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression, for righteousness, but, behold, a cry.

Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel, and say, Thus says lord LORD: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar. He cropped off the topmost of the young twigs of it, and carried it to a land of merchandise. He set it in a city of merchants.read more.
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots of it were under him. So it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And, behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it. It was planted in a good soil by many waters that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit that it might be a goodly vine. Say thou, Thus says lord LORD: Shall it flourish? Shall he not pull up the roots of it, and cut off the fruit of it, that it may wither? It shall wither in all its fresh springing leaves, even without great power or many people to Yea, behold, being planted, shall it flourish? Shall it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It shall wither in the beds where it grew.

Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. And they played the harlot in Egypt. They played the harlot in their youth. There their breasts were pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity. And the names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. And they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.read more.
And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine, and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbors, who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them. And on whomever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. Neither has she left her whoredoms since Egypt. For in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity, and they poured out their whoredom upon her. Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. And she became a byword among women, for they executed judgments upon her. And her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her whoredoms which were more than the whoredoms of her sister. She doted upon the Assyrians, governors and rulers, [her] neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. And I saw that she was defiled. They both took one way. And she increased her whoredoms, for she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, girded with belts upon their loins, with flowing turbans upon their heads, all of them rulers to look upon, according to the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their nativity. And as soon as she saw them she doted upon them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love. And they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. So she uncovered her whoredoms, and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul was alienated from her, just as my soul was alienated from her sister. Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of her youth in which she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. And she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. Thus thou called to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in the handling of thy bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of thy youth. Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says lord LORD: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side: the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, [and] all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, rulers and men of renown, all of them riding upon horses. And they shall come against thee with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They shall set themselves against thee with buckler and shield and helmet round about. And I will commit the judgment to them, and And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal with thee in fury. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy residue shall fall by the sword. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shal They shall also strip thee of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. Thus I will make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom from the land of Egypt, so that thou shall not lift up thine eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more. For thus says lord LORD: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of those whom thou hate, into the hand of those from whom thy soul is alienated. And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thy labor, and shall leave thee naked and bare. And the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be uncovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. These things shall be done to thee, because thou have played the harlot after the nations, and because thou are polluted with their idols. Thou have walked in the way of thy sister, therefore I will give her cup into thy hand. Thus says lord LORD: Thou shall drink of thy sister's cup, which is deep and large. Thou shall be laughed to scorn and had in derision. It contains much. Thou shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria. Thou shall even drink it and drain it out. And thou shall gnaw the shards of it, and shall tear thy breasts, for I have spoken it, says lord LORD. Therefore thus says lord LORD: Because thou have forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore thou also bear thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. LORD said moreover to me, Son of man, will thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. And with their idols they have committed adultery. And they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through [the fire] for them to be devoured. Moreover they have done this to me: They have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. For when they had slain their sons to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it, and, lo, thus they have done in the midst of my house. And furthermore ye have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent. And, lo, they came, for whom thou washed thyself, painted thine eyes, and decked thyself with ornaments, and sat upon a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou did set my incense and my oil. And the voice of a multitude being at ease was with her. And with men of the common sort, were brought drunkards from the wilderness, and they put bracelets upon the hands of those [two women], and beautiful crowns upon their heads Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, Now they will play the harlot with her, and she [with them]. And they went in to her, as they go in to a harlot. So they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.

And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, Thus says lord LORD: Set on the caldron. Set it on, and also pour water into it. Gather the pieces of it into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile [of wood] for the bones under [the caldron]. Make it boil well, yea, let the bones of it be boiled in the midst of it.read more.
Therefore thus says lord LORD: Woe to the bloody city, to the caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece. No lot has fallen upon it. For her blood is in the midst of her. She set it upon the bare rock. She did not pour it upon the ground to cover it with dust. That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood upon the bare rock, that it should not be covered. Therefore thus says lord LORD: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. Heap on the wood; make the fire hot. Boil the flesh well, and make the broth thick. And let the bones be burned. Then set it empty upon the coals of it, that it may be hot, and the brass of it may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. She has wearied [herself] with toil, yet her great scum does not go forth out of her, her scum by fire. In thy filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed thee and thou were not cleansed, thou shall not be cleansed from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my wrath toward thee to rest. I, LORD, have spoken it. It shall come to pass, and I will do it. I will not go back. I will neither spare, nor will I repent. According to thy ways, and according to thy doings, they shall judge thee, says lord LORD.

Which things are allegorized, for these are two covenants, indeed one from mount Sinai giving birth for bondage, which is Hagar.

Having reckoned that God is able to raise up even from the dead, from where also, in a figure, he did receive him back.