⁹ His disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰ He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest I speak in parables so that ‘even though they see, they may not see, and even though they hear, they may not understand.’^{[a] 11} This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.