Mark 4:10-11

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 ¹  of the kingdom of God has been given ²  to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,

Mark 4:34

4:34 He did not speak to them without a parable. But privately he explained everything to his own disciples.

[4:11]  ¹ tn Grk “the mystery.”

[4:11]  ² tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).