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?" |