1
Once more He began to teach by the side of the Lake, and a vast multitude of people came together to listen to Him. He therefore went on board the boat and sat there, a little way from the land; and all the people were on the shore close to the water.
2
Then He proceeded to teach them many lessons in figurative language; and in His teaching He said,
3
"Listen: the sower goes out to sow.
4
As he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and the birds come and peck it up.
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Some falls on the rocky ground where it finds but little earth, and it shoots up quickly because it has no depth of soil;
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but when the sun is risen, it is scorched, and through having no root it withers away.
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Some, again, falls among the thorns; and the thorns spring up and stifle it, so that it yields no crop.
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But some of the seed falls into good ground, and gives a return: it comes up and increases, and yields thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold."
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"Listen," He added, "every one who has ears to listen with!"
10
When He was alone, the Twelve and the others who were about Him requested Him to explain His figurative language.
11
"To you," He replied, "has been entrusted the secret truth concerning the Kingdom of God; but to those others outside your number all this is spoken in figurative language;