Parallel Bible results for "mark 4"

Mark 4

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 And again he was teaching by the seaside. And a very great number of people had come to him, so that he got into a boat on the sea and took his seat; and all the people were on the land by the seaside.

2 And he gave them teaching about a number of things in the form of stories, and said to them in his teaching, Give ear:

3 A man went out to put seed in the earth:

4 And while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took it for food.

5 And some went on the stones, where it had not much earth; and it came up straight away, because the earth was not deep:

6 And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root, it became dry and dead.

7 And some went among the thorns, and the thorns came up, and it had no room for growth and gave no fruit.

8 And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, coming up and increasing, and giving thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.

9 And he said to them, Whoever has ears, let him give ear.

10 And when he was by himself, those who were round him with the twelve put questions to him about the purpose of the stories.

11 And he said to them, To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are given in the form of stories;

12 So that seeing they may see, and it will not be clear to them; and hearing it, they will not get the sense; for fear that they may be turned again to me and have forgiveness.

13 And he said to them, If you are not clear about this story, how will you be clear about the others?

14 The seed is the word.

15 And these are they by the wayside, where the word is planted; and when they have given ear, the Evil One comes straight away and takes away the word which has been planted in them.

16 And in the same way, these are they who are planted on the stones, who, when the word has come to their ears, straight away take it with joy;

17 And they have no root in themselves, but go on for a time; then, when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, they quickly become full of doubts.

18 And others are those planted among the thorns; these are they who have given ear to the word,

19 And the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, and the desire for other things coming in, put a stop to the growth of the word, and it gives no fruit.

20 And these are they who were planted on the good earth; such as give ear to the word, and take it into their hearts, and give fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundred times as much.

21 And he said to them, When the light comes in, do people put it under a vessel, or under the bed, and not on its table?

22 There is nothing covered which will not be seen openly, and nothing has been made secret which will not come to light.

23 If any man has ears, let him give ear.

24 And he said to them, Take care what you give ear to: in the same measure as you give you will get, and more will be given to you.

25 He who has, to him will be given: and he who has not, from him will be taken even that which he has.

26 And he said, Such is the kingdom of God, as if a man put seed in the earth,

27 And went to sleep and got up, night and day, and the seed came to growth, though he had no idea how.

28 The earth gives fruit by herself; first the leaf, then the head, then the full grain.

29 But when the grain is ready, he quickly sends men to get it cut, because the time for cutting has come.

30 And he said, What picture may we give of the kingdom of God, or with what story may we make it clear?

31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is put in the earth, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth,

32 But when it is planted, it comes up, and becomes taller than all the plants, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of heaven are able to take rest in its shade.

33 And with a number of such stories he gave them his teaching, as they were able to take it:

34 And without a story he said nothing to them: but privately to his disciples he made all things clear.

35 And on that day, when the evening had come, he said to them, Let us go over to the other side.

36 And going away from the people, they took him with them, as he was, in the boat. And other boats were with him.

37 And a great storm of wind came up, and the waves came into the boat, so that the boat was now becoming full.

38 And he himself was in the back of the boat, sleeping on the cushion: and they, awaking him, said, Master, is it nothing to you that we are in danger of destruction?

39 And he came out of his sleep, and gave strong orders to the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be at rest. And the wind went down, and there was a great calm.

40 And he said to them, Why are you full of fear? have you still no faith?

41 And their fear was great, and they said one to another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea do his orders?

Good News Translation GNT

1 Again Jesus began to teach beside Lake Galilee. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it. The boat was out in the water, and the crowd stood on the shore at the water's edge.

2 He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them:

3 "Listen! Once there was a man who went out to sow grain.

4 As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

5 Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep.

6 Then, when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up.

7 Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants, and they didn't bear grain.

8 But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and bore grain: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others one hundred."

9 And Jesus concluded, "Listen, then, if you have ears!"

10 When Jesus was alone, some of those who had heard him came to him with the twelve disciples and asked him to explain the parables.

11 "You have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God," Jesus answered. "But the others, who are on the outside, hear all things by means of parables,

12 so that, "They may look and look, yet not see; they may listen and listen, yet not understand. For if they did, they would turn to God, and he would forgive them.' "

13 Then Jesus asked them, "Don't you understand this parable? How, then, will you ever understand any parable?

14 The sower sows God's message.

15 Some people are like the seeds that fall along the path; as soon as they hear the message, Satan comes and takes it away.

16 Other people are like the seeds that fall on rocky ground. As soon as they hear the message, they receive it gladly.

17 But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.

18 Other people are like the seeds sown among the thorn bushes. These are the ones who hear the message,

19 but the worries about this life, the love for riches, and all other kinds of desires crowd in and choke the message, and they don't bear fruit.

20 But other people are like seeds sown in good soil. They hear the message, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred."

21 Jesus continued, "Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or under the bed? Isn't it put on the lampstand?

22 Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be uncovered.

23 Listen, then, if you have ears!"

24 He also said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear! The same rules you use to judge others will be used by God to judge you - but with even greater severity.

25 Those who have something will be given more, and those who have nothing will have taken away from them even the little they have."

26 Jesus went on to say, "The Kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed in his field.

27 He sleeps at night, is up and about during the day, and all the while the seeds are sprouting and growing. Yet he does not know how it happens.

28 The soil itself makes the plants grow and bear fruit; first the tender stalk appears, then the head, and finally the head full of grain.

29 When the grain is ripe, the man starts cutting it with his sickle, because harvest time has come.

30 "What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like?" asked Jesus. "What parable shall we use to explain it?

31 It is like this. A man takes a mustard seed, the smallest seed in the world, and plants it in the ground.

32 After a while it grows up and becomes the biggest of all plants. It puts out such large branches that the birds come and make their nests in its shade."

33 Jesus preached his message to the people, using many other parables like these; he told them as much as they could understand.

34 He would not speak to them without using parables, but when he was alone with his disciples, he would explain everything to them.

35 On the evening of that same day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake."

36 So they left the crowd; the disciples got into the boat in which Jesus was already sitting, and they took him with them. Other boats were there too.

37 Suddenly a strong wind blew up, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water.

38 Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said, "Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?"

39 Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, "Be quiet!" and he said to the waves, "Be still!" The wind died down, and there was a great calm.

40 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Why are you frightened? Do you still have no faith?"

41 But they were terribly afraid and began to say to one another, "Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"