The Parable of the Sower

4 Again ^vhe began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him,^wso that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was besidethe sea on the land. 2 And ^xhe was teaching them many things in parables, and in histeaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! ^yBehold, 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 onrocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it hadno depth of soil. 6 And ^zwhen the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ^aitwithered away. 7 Other seed fell among ^bthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, andit yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing upand increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ^ca hundredfold.” 9 And he said,^d“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

10 And ^ewhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about theparables. 11 And he said to them, ^f“To you has been given ^gthe secret of the kingdom ofGod, but for ^hthose outside everything is in parables, 12 ⁱso that

13 ^lAnd he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will youunderstand all the parables? 14 ^mThe sower sows ⁿthe word. 15 And these are the onesalong the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes andtakes 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 ^owith joy. 17 And they haveno root in themselves, but ^pendure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecutionarises on account of the word, immediately ^qthey fall away.¹ 18 And others are the onessown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but ^rthe cares of ^sthe world and^tthe 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 whohear the word and accept it and ^ubear fruit, ^vthirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp Under a Basket

21 ^wAnd he said to them, ^x“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed,and not on a stand? 22 ^yFor nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anythingsecret except to come to light. 23 ^zIf anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he saidto them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^awith the measure you use, it will be measuredto you, and still more will be added to you. 25 ^bFor to the one who has, more will be given,and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

26 And he said, ^c“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^dhe knows not how.28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.29 But when the grain is ripe, at once ^ehe puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 ^fAnd he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shallwe use for it? 31 It is like ^ga grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is thesmallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes largerthan all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air canmake nests in its shade.”

33 ^hWith many such parables he spoke ⁱthe word to them, ^jas they were able to hear it.34 He did not speak to them ^kwithout a parable, but ^lprivately to his own disciples he^mexplained everything.