Mark 4:1

The Parable of the Sower

1 Again ¹he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ²so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

Mark 4:1 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 4:1

And he began again to teach by the sea side
He went out of the house where he was at Capernaum, the same day he had the above discourse with the Scribes and Pharisees, and on which his mother and: brethren came to speak with him; and from thence he went where he had been before, and taught the people; namely, to the sea side, the shore of the sea of Galilee, or Tiberias:

and there was gathered unto him a great multitude;
which followed him from the house, and from other parts of the city, and perhaps from the adjacent places:

so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea;
in the ship at sea, at some little distance from the shore; the sea of Tiberias being rather a lake, and within land, had no tide, and so was still and quiet:

and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land;
stood on the land, all along the sea shore; (See Gill on Matthew 13:1), (See Gill on Matthew 13:2).

Mark 4:1 In-Context

1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

3 "Listen! A sower went out to sow.

4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 1-12, see Matthew 13:1-15; Luke 8:4-10
• 2. [Mark 3:9; Luke 5:1-3]