Mark 4:10-20

The Purpose of the Parables

10 And ¹when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

11 And he said to them, ²"To you has been given ³the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ⁴those outside everything is in parables,

12 ⁵so that "they ⁶may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they ⁷should turn and be forgiven."

13 ⁸And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

14 ⁹The sower sows ¹⁰the 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 ¹¹with joy.

17 And they have no root in themselves, but ¹²endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ¹³they fall away.^[a]

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

19 but ¹⁴the cares of ¹⁵the world and ¹⁶the 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 ¹⁷bear fruit, ¹⁸thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

Cross References

• 1. ver. 34
• 2. Matthew 19:11; Colossians 1:27; [1 Corinthians 2:6-10; 1 John 2:20, 27]; See Matthew 11:25
• 3. See Romans 16:25
• 4. 1 Corinthians 5:12, 13; Colossians 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:12; 1 Timothy 3:7
• 5. Isaiah 6:9, 10
• 6. Deuteronomy 29:4; Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2; Romans 11:8; 2 Corinthians 3:14; 2 Corinthians 4:4; [Isaiah 42:19, 20]
• 7. See Luke 22:32
• 8. For ver. 13-20, see Matthew 13:18-23; Luke 8:11-15
• 9. [Matthew 13:37; John 4:36, 37]
• 10. ver. 33; Mark 2:2; Luke 1:2; Acts 8:4; James 1:21
• 11. [Mark 6:20; Isaiah 58:2; Ezekiel 33:31, 32; John 5:35]
• 12. Galatians 1:6; [Hosea 6:4; Galatians 5:7]
• 13. See Matthew 11:6
• 14. See Matthew 6:25
• 15. 2 Timothy 4:10
• 16. 1 Tim. 6:9, 10, 17; [Mark 10:23; Matthew 19:23; Acts 5:1-11; Hebrews 3:13]
• 17. Hosea 14:8; John 15:5, 16; Philippians 1:11; Colossians 1:6
• 18. ver. 8

Footnotes

• [a]. Or stumble