Mark 4:1-20

The Parable of the Sower

4¹ 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.