Mark 4:16-17

4:16 These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy. 4:17 But ¹  they have no root in themselves and do not endure. ²  Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

Ezekiel 11:19

11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; ³  I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies ⁴  and I will give them tender hearts, ⁵ 

Ezekiel 36:26

36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ⁶  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ⁷ 

Hosea 10:12

10:12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,

reap unfailing love.

Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves,

for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes and showers deliverance ⁸  on you.

Amos 6:12

6:12 Can horses run on rocky cliffs?

Can one plow the sea with oxen? ⁹ 

Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant,

and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 13:5-6

13:5 Other ¹¹  seeds fell on rocky ground ¹²  where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep. ¹³  13:6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered.

Matthew 13:20

13:20 The ¹⁴  seed sown on rocky ground ¹⁵  is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

Luke 8:6

8:6 Other seed fell on rock, ¹⁶  and when it came up, it withered because it had no moisture.

Luke 8:13

8:13 Those ¹⁷  on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, ¹⁸  but ¹⁹  in a time of testing ²⁰  fall away. ²¹ 

[4:17]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[4:17]  ² tn Grk “are temporary.”

[11:19]  ³ tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”

[11:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “their flesh.”

[11:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “heart of flesh.”

[36:26]  ⁶ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ⁷ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[10:12]  ⁸ tn Or “righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “justice.”

[6:12]  ⁹ tc Heb “Does one plow with oxen?” This obviously does not fit the parallelism, for the preceding rhetorical question requires the answer, “Of course not!” An error of fusion has occurred in the Hebrew, with the word יָם (yam, “sea”) being accidentally added as a plural ending to the collective noun בָּקָר (baqar, “oxen”). A proper division of the consonants produces the above translation, which fits the parallelism and also anticipates the answer, “Of course not!”

[6:12]  ¹⁰ sn The botanical imagery, when juxtaposed with the preceding rhetorical questions, vividly depicts and emphasizes how the Israelites have perverted justice and violated the created order by their morally irrational behavior.

[13:5]  ¹¹ tn Here and in vv. 7 and 8 δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:5]  ¹² sn The rocky ground in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.

[13:5]  ¹³ tn Grk “it did not have enough depth of earth.”

[13:20]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:20]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one.” The next two statements like this one have this same syntactical structure.

[8:6]  ¹⁶ sn The rock in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.

[8:13]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:13]  ¹⁸ sn This time of temporary faith represented by the description believe for a while is presented rather tragically in the passage. The seed does not get a chance to do all it can.

[8:13]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:13]  ²⁰ tn Traditionally, “temptation.” Such a translation puts the emphasis on temptation to sin rather than testing of faith, which is what the context seems to indicate.

[8:13]  ²¹ sn Fall away. On the idea of falling away and the warnings against it, see 2 Tim 3:1; Heb 3:12; Jer 3:14; Dan 9:9.