Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

6 In the year that ^(A)King Uzziah died I ^(B)saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train^[a] of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had ^(C)six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

⁴ And ^(F)the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and ^(G)the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! ^(H)For I am lost; ^(I)for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the ^(J)King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he ^(K)touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the Lord

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for ^(L)us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹ And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

The Parable of the Sower

^4 (A)And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, ^5 (B)“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶ And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, ^(C)it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷ And some fell among ^(D)thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded ^(E)a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, ^(F)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

⁹ And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, ¹⁰ he said, ^(G)“To you it has been given to know ^(H)the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so ^(I)that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ ^11 (J)Now the parable is this: The seed is ^(K)the word of God. ¹² The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not ^(L)believe and be saved. ¹³ And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it ^(M)with joy. But these have no root; they ^(N)believe for a while, and in time of testing ^(O)fall away. ¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but ^(P)as they go on their way they are choked by the ^(Q)cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵ As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and ^(R)bear fruit ^(S)with patience.

A Lamp Under a Jar

^16 (T)(U)“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ^17 (V)For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. ^18 (W)Take care then how you hear, ^(X)for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

^19 (Y)Then his mother and ^(Z)his brothers^[a] came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” ²¹ But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those ^(AA)who hear the word of God and do it.”