Luke 8:4-15 New King James Version

The Parable of the Sower^(A)

⁴^(B)And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: ⁵“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. ⁷And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. ⁸But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded ^[a]a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, ^(C)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The Purpose of Parables^(D)

⁹^(E)Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰And He said, “To you it has been given to know the ^[b]mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

^(F)‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’

The Parable of the Sower Explained^(G)

¹¹^(H)“Now the parable is this: The seed is the ^(I)word of God. ¹²Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. ¹³But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of ^[c]temptation fall away. ¹⁴Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, ^(J)riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. ¹⁵But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with ^(K)patience.^[d]