Mark 4:1-16
The Parable of the Sower
4:1 Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake.
4:2 He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching said to them:
4:3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow.
4:4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
4:5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
4:6 When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, it withered.
4:7 Other seed fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked it, and it did not produce grain.
4:8 But other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times.”
4:9 And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!”
The Purpose of Parables
4:10 When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
4:11 He said to them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,
4:12 so that although they look they may look but not see,
and although they hear they may hear but not understand,
so they may not repent and be forgiven.”
4:13 He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? Then how will you understand any parable?
4:14 The sower sows the word.
4:15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan comes and snatches the word that was sown in them.
4:16 These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy.