The Parable of the Sower

4 ^(A)And He began to teach again ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and it happened that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no ^[a]crop. ⁸ And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a ^[b]crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[c]let him hear.”

¹⁰ And when He was alone, ^[d]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to ^(F)those who are outside, everything comes ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven.”

The Parable of the Sower Explained

^13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately ^(J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky places: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they ^[e]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(K)the ^[f]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and ^(M)are bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(N)Is a lamp brought to be put under a ^[g]basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (O)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (P)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Beware what you listen to. ^[h](Q)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. ^25 (R)For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

The Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ^[i]is ripe, he immediately ^[j](S)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (T)And He was saying, “How shall we ^(U)compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is ^[k]smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes ^[l]largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that ^(V)the birds of the ^[m]air can nest under its shade.”

³³ And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it; ³⁴ and He was not speaking to them ^(W)without a parable; but He was ^(X)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Calms a Storm

^35 (Y)And on that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” ^36 [n]And leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^(Z)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm *arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. ³⁸ And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they *got Him up and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He woke up and ^(AA)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and ^[o]it became ^[p]perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? ^(AB)Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ And they became ^[q]very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”