4 ^aAnd when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:  ‡

5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.

8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded¹ a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, ^a“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  ‡