Mark 4:1-20

The Parable of the Sower

1 Again ¹he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ²so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

2 And ³he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

3 "Listen! ⁴A sower went out to sow.

4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.

6 And ⁵when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ⁶it withered away.

7 Other seed fell among ⁷thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ⁸a hundredfold."

9 And he said, ⁹"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

The Purpose of the Parables

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

11 And he said to them, ¹¹"To you has been given ¹²the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ¹³those outside everything is in parables,

12 ¹⁴so that "they ¹⁵may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they ¹⁶should turn and be forgiven."

13 ¹⁷And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

14 ¹⁸The sower sows ¹⁹the 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 ²⁰with joy.

17 And they have no root in themselves, but ²¹endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ²²they fall away.^[a]

18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,

19 but ²³the cares of ²⁴the world and ²⁵the 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 ²⁶bear fruit, ²⁷thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."