Mark 4:10-12

The Reason for the Parables

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

11 And he said to them, "To you has been granted the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside everything is in parables,

12 so that '{they may look closely} and not perceive, and {they may listen carefully} and not understand, lest they turn and it be forgiven them.'"

Footnotes

• [a]. The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began asking")