Mark 4:1-20

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: 3Listen! 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.'”
13 qAnd he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 rThe sower sows sthe word. 15And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it twith joy. 17And they have no root in themselves, but uendure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately vthey fall away.
Or stumble
18And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19but xthe cares of ythe world and zthe deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and aabear fruit, abthirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

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