and he said to them, 'To you it hath been given to know the secret of the reign of God, but to those who are without, in similes are all the things done;

"To you," He replied, "has been entrusted the secret truth concerning the Kingdom of God; but to those others outside your number all this is spoken in figurative language;

And he said to them, To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are given in the form of stories;

And he said to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,

And he said to them: "To you, it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to those who are outside, everything is presented in parables:

and he said, "To you the hidden truth of the kingdom of God has been imparted; but to those who are outside it all teaching takes the form of parables so that –

Unto you it is given to know - Γνωναι, to know, is omitted by ABKL, ten others, the Coptic, and one of the Itala. The omission of this word makes a material alteration in the sense; for without it the passage may be read thus: - To you the mystery of the kingdom of God is given; but all these things are transacted in parables to those without. Griesbach leaves it doubtful. And Professor White says, probabiliter delendum. I should be inclined to omit it, were it not found in the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, in neither of whom it is omitted by any MS. or version. See the dissertation on parabolical writing at the end of Matthew 13:58.

And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are (e) without, all [these] things are done in parables:
(e) That is to say, to strangers, and such ones as are not of us.

And he said unto them,.... His disciples;
unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; or the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the secrets of the Gospel dispensation, the mysterious doctrines of grace; See Gill on Matthew 13:11,
but unto them that are without; "to strangers", as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, who were not the disciples of Christ, nor admitted to any intimacy with him; who came only to amuse themselves with the sight of his person and miracles:
all these things are done in parables; are wrapped up in dark sayings, and figurative expressions, the sound of which they heard, and might be pleased with the pretty similes made use of, but understood not the spiritual meaning of them.

And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them, &c.--See on Matthew 13:10-17.

To them that are without - So the Jews termed the heathens: so our Lord terms all obstinate unbelievers: for they shall not enter into his kingdom: they shall abide in outer darkness.