¹⁴ The farmer sows the word.^(A)

Jesus Calls His First Disciples^(A)

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.^(B)

²⁸ He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God^(A) and obey it.”^(B)

³⁵ If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God^(A) came—and Scripture cannot be set aside^(B)—

²⁴ But the word of God^(A) continued to spread and flourish.^(B)

¹³ And we also thank God continually^(A) because, when you received the word of God,^(B) which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

⁹ for which I am suffering^(A) even to the point of being chained^(B) like a criminal. But God’s word^(C) is not chained.

²³ For you have been born again,^(A) not of perishable seed, but of imperishable,^(B) through the living and enduring word of God.^(C)