Mark 4:1-17 ▼

1 And again he began to teach by the seaside. And a large crowd was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. And the whole crowd was on the land by the sea.

2 And then he taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching,

3 |Listen. Look, the sower who went out to sow.

4 And it happened, as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it.

5 And others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil.

6 And when the sun came up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

7 And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

8 And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and brought forth thirty times, and sixty times, and one hundred times.|

9 And he said, |Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.|

10 And when he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

11 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,

12 that 'seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn and be forgiven.'|

13 And he said to them, |Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all of the parables?

14 The farmer sows the word.

15 And these are the ones by the road where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

16 And these in a similar way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.

17 And they have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. Then, when oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble.