Mar 4:10-20 | ESV | STEP | And when he was alone , those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables .

Mark 4:10-20

The Purpose of the Parables

10 And ^awhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, ^b“To you has been given ^cthe secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^dthose outside everything is in parables, 12 ^eso that

“'they ^fmay indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they ^gshould turn and be forgiven.'”
13 ^hAnd he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 ⁱThe sower sows ^jthe word. 15 And 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. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it ^kwith joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but ^lendure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^mthey fall away. ^{▼▼Or stumble} 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but ^othe cares of ^pthe world and ^qthe deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ^rbear fruit, ^sthirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”