4:1  He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd came to the sea on the land.

4:2  And He taught them many things in parables, and said to them in His teaching,

4:3  "Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;

4:4  as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

4:5  "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

4:6  "And after the sun had risen, it became scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

4:7  "Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

4:8  "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

4:9  And He said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

4:10  As soon as He found Himself alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.

4:11  And He said to them, "I have given you the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who remain outside get everything in parables,

4:12  so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND RECEIVE FORGIVENESS."

4:13  And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?

4:14  "The sower sows the word.

4:15  "These symbolize the ones who fall beside the road where they sow the word; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which God has sown in them.

4:16  "In a similar way these represent the ones on whom the farmer sowed the seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;

4:17  and they have no firm root in themselves, but have only temporariness; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.

4:18  "And others represent the ones on whom the farmer sowed seed among the thorns; these represent the ones who have heard the word,

4:19  but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

4:20  "And those represent the ones on whom the farmer sowed the seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."

4:21  And He said to them, "We do not bring a lamp to put it under a basket, do we, or under a bed? Do we not bring it to put it on the lampstand?

4:22  "For we can hide nothing, except to become revealed; nor has anything remained secret, but that it would come to light.

4:23  "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

4:24  And He said to them, "Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure people will measure it to you; and they will give you more besides.

4:25  "For whoever has, God will give more; and whoever does not have, even what he has God shall take away from him."

4:26  And He said, "The kingdom of God resembles a man who casts seed upon the soil;

4:27  and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows--how, he himself does not know.

4:28  "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

4:29  "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

4:30  And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?

4:31  "It resembles a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that fall upon the soil,

4:32  yet when we sow it, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE."

4:33  With many such parables He spoke the word to them, so far as they could hear it;

4:34  and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He explained everything privately to His own disciples.

4:35  On that day, when evening came, He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side."

4:36  Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He went; and other boats came with Him.

4:37  And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves broke over the boat so much that the boat had already filled up.

4:38  Jesus Himself reclined in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we perish?"

4:39  And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, calm yourself." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm.

4:40  And He said to them, "Why do you fear? Do you still have no faith?"

4:41  They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who has this power, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"