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.
2
And
3he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:
3
“Listen!
4Behold, 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.
6
And
5when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root,
6it withered away.
7
Other seed fell among
7thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
8
And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and
8a hundredfold. ”
9
And he said,
9“He who has ears to hear, let him hear. ”
The Purpose of the Parables
10 And
10when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
11
And he said to them,
11“To you has been given
12the secret of the kingdom of God, but for
13those outside everything is in parables,
12
14so that“they
15may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they
16should turn and be forgiven. ”
13
17And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14
18The sower sows
19the 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
20with joy.
17
And they have no root in themselves, but
21endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately
22they fall away.
18
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,
19
but
23the cares of
24the world and
25the 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
26bear fruit,
27thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. ”