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

13 On that day Jesus went out of ^(A)the house and was sitting ^(B)by the sea. ² And ^[a]large crowds gathered to Him, so ^(C)He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³ And He spoke many things to them in ^(D)parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ And others fell ^[b]among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ⁸ And others fell on the good soil and were yielding ^[c]a crop, some a ^(E)hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. ^9 (F)He who has ears, ^[d]let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And ^[e]Jesus answered and said to them, “^(G)To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ^12 (H)For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while ^(I)seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

The Parable of the Sower

^4 (A)Now when a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: ⁵ “The sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the ^[a]air ate it up. ⁶ And other seed fell on rock and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷ And other seed fell among the thorns, and when the thorns grew up with it, they choked it out. ⁸ And other seed fell into the good soil; and growing up, it produced a crop one hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “^(B)He who has ears to hear, ^[b]let him hear.”

The Parable of the Sower Explained

^9 (C)And His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. ¹⁰ And He said, “^(D)To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that ^(E)seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.