Mark 4:10-20

English Standard Version

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And ^(A)when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, ^(B)“To you has been given ^(C)the secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^(D)those outside everything is in parables, ¹²^(E)so that

“‘they ^(F)may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they ^(G)should turn and be forgiven.’”

¹³^(H)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴^(I)The sower sows ^(J)the word. ¹⁵And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it ^(K)with joy. ¹⁷And they have no root in themselves, but ^(L)endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(M)they fall away.^[a] ¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹but ^(N)the cares of ^(O)the world and ^(P)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ^(Q)bear fruit, ^(R)thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”