Mark 4:1-20

Mark 4

The Parable of the Sower

¹ Another time Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the sea. The whole crowd was on the seashore. ² Then he taught them many things in parables. As he taught them, he said, ³ “Listen! There was a sower who went out to sow. ⁴ As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up right away because it did not have deep soil. ⁶ When the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have much root, it withered. ⁷ Some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it did not produce fruit. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good ground and yielded fruit, sprouting and growing and producing a crop: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.” ⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰ When Jesus was alone, those who were around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but everything comes in parables to those who are outside, ¹² so that

¹³ Then he asked them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and immediately takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. ¹⁷ Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. ¹⁸ Still others are sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things enter in and choke the word, so it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ But the ones sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.”