41And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable:
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2"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it.
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And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, 3it withered away, because it had no moisture.
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And some fell among 4thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
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And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded 5a hundredfold." As he said these things, he called out, 6"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
The Purpose of the Parables
9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant,
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he said, 7"To you it has been given to know 8the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so 9that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'