Mark 4

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea . And a very large crowd gathered about him , so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea , and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land .

²And he was teaching them many things in parables , and in his teaching he said to them :

³Listen ! Behold, a sower went out to sow .

⁴And as he sowed , some seed fell along the path , and the birds came and devoured it .

⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground , where it did not have much soil , and immediately it sprang up , since it had no depth of soil .

⁶And when the sun rose , it was scorched , and since it had no root , it withered away .

⁷Other seed fell among thorns , and the thorns grew up and choked it , and it yielded no grain .

⁸And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain , growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold .

⁹And he said , He who has ears to hear , let him hear .

¹⁰And when he was alone , those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables .

¹¹And he said to them , To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God , but for those outside everything is in parables ,

¹²so that they may indeed see but not perceive , and may indeed hear but not understand , lest they should turn and be forgiven .

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

¹⁴The sower sows the word .

¹⁵And these are the ones along the path , where the word is sown : when they hear , Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them .

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

¹⁷And they have no root in themselves , but endure for a while ; then , when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word , immediately they fall away .

¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns . They are those who hear the word ,

¹⁹but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word , and it proves unfruitful .

²⁰But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit , thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold .

²¹And he said to them , Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket , or under a bed , and not on a stand ?

²²For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest ; nor is anything secret except to come to light .

²³If anyone has ears to hear , let him hear .

²⁴And he said to them , Pay attention to what you hear : with the measure you use , it will be measured to you , and still more will be added to you .

²⁵For to the one who has , more will be given , and from the one who has not , even what he has will be taken away .

²⁶And he said , The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground .

²⁷He sleeps and rises night and day , and the seed sprouts and grows ; he knows not how .

²⁸The earth produces by itself , first the blade , then the ear , then the full grain in the ear .

²⁹But when the grain is ripe , at once he puts in the sickle , because the harvest has come .

³⁰And he said , With what can we compare the kingdom of God , or what parable shall we use for it ?

³¹It is like a grain of mustard seed , which , when sown on the ground , is the smallest of all the seeds on earth ,

³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches , so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade .

³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them , as they were able to hear it.

³⁴He did not speak to them without a parable , but privately to his own disciples he explained everything .

³⁵On that day , when evening had come , he said to them , Let us go across to the other side .

³⁶And leaving the crowd , they took him with them in the boat , just as he was . And other boats were with him .

³⁷And a great windstorm arose , and the waves were breaking into the boat , so that the boat was already filling .

³⁸But he was in the stern , asleep on the cushion . And they woke him and said to him , Teacher , do you not care that we are perishing ?

³⁹And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea , Peace ! Be still ! And the wind ceased , and there was a great calm .

⁴⁰He said to them , Why are you so afraid ? Have you still no faith ?

⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another , Who then is this , that even the wind and the sea obey him ?