Now ¹  a great windstorm ²  developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped.

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,

but ¹  worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, ²  and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, ³  and it produces nothing.

As Jesus ¹  was having a meal ²  in Levi’s ³  home, many tax collectors ⁴  and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.

when it is sown, it grows up, ¹  becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds ²  can nest in its shade.” ³ 

I tell you the truth, ¹  if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.