Mark 4:26-34

The Parable of the Seed Growing

26 And he said, ¹"The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.

27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ²he knows not how.

28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

29 But when the grain is ripe, at once ³he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 ⁴And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?

31 It is like ⁵a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth,

32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

33 ⁶With many such parables he spoke ⁷the word to them, ⁸as they were able to hear it.

34 He did not speak to them ⁹without a parable, but ¹⁰privately to his own disciples he ¹¹explained everything.