Mark 4:1-12
The Parable of the Sower
1Again ahe began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, bso that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2And che was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3“Listen! dBehold, a sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6And ewhen the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, fit withered away. 7Other seed fell among gthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ha hundredfold.” 9And he said, i“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”The Purpose of the Parables
10And jwhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, k“To you has been given lthe secret of the kingdom of God, but for mthose outside everything is in parables, 12 nso that“'they omay indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they pshould turn and be forgiven.'”
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