Mark 4:1-10

Parable of the Sower and Soils

1 ¹He began to teach again ²by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ³He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.

2 And He was teaching them many things in ⁴parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,

3 "Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;

4 as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

5 "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

6 "And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

7 "Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

8 "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

9 And He was saying, "⁵He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

10 As soon as He was alone, His followers *, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.

Cross References

• 1. Mark 4:1-12: {Matthew 13:1-15; Luke 8:4-10}
• 2. Mark 2:13; Mark 3:7
• 3. Luke 5:1-3
• 4. Matthew 13:3f; Mark 3:23; Mark 4:2f
• 5. Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:23; Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29

Footnotes

• [a] Or "hear!;" or "listen!"
• [b] Lit "those about Him"