Watering, Working, Warning

⁵ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ^(A)ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ^6 (B)I planted, ^(C)Apollos watered, ^(D)but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then ^(E)neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, ^(F)and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁹ For ^(G)we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are ^(H)God’s building. ^10 (I)According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid ^(J)the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than ^(K)that which is laid, ^(L)which is Jesus Christ.

The Parable of the Sower^(A)

13 On the same day Jesus went out of the house ^(B)and sat by the sea. ^2 (C)And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that ^(D)He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: ^(E)“Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some ^(F)a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ^9 (G)He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The Purpose of Parables^(H)

¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

¹¹ He answered and said to them, “Because ^(I)it has been given to you to know the ^[a]mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ^12 (J)For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

¹⁶ But ^(P)blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷ for assuredly, I say to you ^(Q)that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.