Mark 4:3

4:3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ¹ 

Isaiah 32:20

32:20 you will be blessed,

you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams, ² 

you who let your ox and donkey graze. ³ 

Matthew 13:19

13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one ⁴  comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; ⁵  this is the seed sown along the path.

Matthew 13:37

13:37 He ⁶  answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.

Luke 8:11

8:11 “Now the parable means ⁷  this: The seed is the word of God.

¹ sn A sower went out to sow. The background for this well-known parable, drawn from a typical scene in the Palestinian countryside, is a field through which a well worn path runs. Sowing would occur in late fall or early winter (October to December) in the rainy season, looking for sprouting in April or May and a June harvest. The use of seed as a figure for God’s giving life has OT roots (Isa 55:10-11). The point of the parable of the sower is to illustrate the various responses to the message of the kingdom of God (cf. 4:11).

² tn Heb “by all the waters.”

³ tn Heb “who set free the foot of the ox and donkey”; NIV “letting your cattle and donkeys range free.”

⁴ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

⁵ sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

⁶ tn Grk “And answering, he said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “is,” but in this context it is clearly giving an explanation of the parable.