Mark 4:13-20

The Parable of the Sower Interpreted

13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?

14 The sower sows the word.

15 And these are the ones beside the path where the word is sown, and whenever they hear [it], immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

16 And these are like the ones sown on the rocky ground, who whenever they hear the word immediately receive it with joy.

17 And they have no root in themselves, but are temporary. Then [when] affliction or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

18 And others are the ones sown among the thorn plants--these are the ones who hear the word,

19 and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other [things] come in [and] choke the word and it becomes unproductive.

20 And those are the ones sown on the good soil, who hear the word and receive [it] and bear fruit--one thirty and one sixty and one a hundred [times as much]."

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [b]. Some manuscripts omit "like"
• [c]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("comes")
• [d]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("come in") has been translated as a finite verb
• [e]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
• [f]. The phrase "[times as much]" is not in the Greek text but is implied