Mark 4
1Once again, Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such an immense crowd gathered around him that he climbed into a boat and sat out on the water, while the whole crowd remained on the shore at the water's edge. 2He taught them many things using parables, and in his instruction, he said to them:
3"Listen! Look, a sower went out to sow. 4And it happened that as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up immediately because the soil had no depth. 6But when the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8But other seeds fell into the good soil and yielded fruit, coming up and increasing, and it produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
9And he said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!"
10When he was alone, those who were around him along with the Twelve began to ask him about the parables. 11He told them, "The secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you, but for those on the outside, everything comes in parables, 12so that 'they may look and look but not see, and they may hear and hear but not understand, lest they should turn back and be forgiven.'"
13Then he said to them, "If you do not understand this parable, how will you grasp any of the parables? 14The sower sows the word. 15These are the ones along the path where the word is sown: as soon as they hear it, the Adversary comes immediately and carries off the word that was sown in them. 16Similarly, these are the ones sown on the rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy, 17but they have no root in themselves and are only temporary. Then, when trouble or persecution arises because of the word, they are immediately tripped up. 18Others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who have heard the word, 19but the anxieties of this present age, the delusion of wealth, and the cravings for everything else come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20And those are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and welcome it and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
21He also said to them, "Does a lamp come into a room to be put under a grain-measure or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on a lampstand? 22For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, and nothing has been kept secret except to come to light. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear!"
24And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and more will be added to you. 25For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."
26He also said, "The Kingdom of God is like this: it is as if a man scatters seed on the ground. 27He sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows tall, though he does not know how. 28The earth yields fruit of its own accord—first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29But when the grain is ripe, he immediately sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come."
30Again he said, "How shall we picture the Kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth. 32Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes the largest of all the garden plants, and it produces such large branches that the birds of the sky are able to nest under its shade."
33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to hear. 34He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately he explained everything to his own disciples.
35On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36And leaving the crowd behind, they took him along in the boat, just as he was; and other boats were with him. 37A furious windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling up. 38But he was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, does it not matter to you that we are perishing?"
39He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be muzzled!" Then the wind died down, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
41They were overcome with a great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"