Mark 4
Legacy Standard Bible
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 Explained
13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately (J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky places: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they [e]fall away. 18 And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of (K)the [f]world, and the (L)deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and (M)are bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
21 And He was saying to them, “(N)Is a lamp brought to be put under a [g]basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand? 22 (O)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. 23 (P)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And He was saying to them, “Beware what you listen to. [h](Q)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. 25 (R)For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
The Parable of the Seed
26 And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27 and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. 28 The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. 29 But when the grain [i]is ripe, he immediately [j](S)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 (T)And He was saying, “How shall we (U)compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is [k]smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes [l]largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that (V)the birds of the [m]air can nest under its shade.”
33 And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 and He was not speaking to them (W)without a parable; but He was (X)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.
Jesus Calms a Storm
35 (Y)And on that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 [n]And leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them (Z)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And a great windstorm *arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. 38 And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they *got Him up and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 And He woke up and (AA)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and [o]it became [p]perfectly calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? (AB)Do you still have no faith?” 41 And they became [q]very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Footnotes
- Mark 4:7 Lit fruit
- Mark 4:8 Lit fruit
- Mark 4:9 Or hear!, listen!; Gr imperative
- Mark 4:10 Lit those about Him
- Mark 4:17 Lit are caused to stumble
- Mark 4:19 Or age
- Mark 4:21 Or peck-measure
- Mark 4:24 Lit By what measure you measure
- Mark 4:29 Lit permits
- Mark 4:29 Lit sends forth
- Mark 4:31 Lit smaller
- Mark 4:32 Lit larger
- Mark 4:32 Or sky
- Mark 4:36 Or Sending away
- Mark 4:39 Lit a great calm occurred
- Mark 4:39 Or greatly, cf. 4:37
- Mark 4:41 Or greatly, cf. 4:37
Mark 4
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Parable of the Sower
4 Another time Jesus began to teach by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the sea. The whole crowd was on the seashore. 2 Then he taught them many things in parables. As he taught them, he said, 3 “Listen! There was a sower who went out to sow. 4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up right away because it did not have deep soil. 6 When the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have much root, it withered. 7 Some seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, so it did not produce fruit. 8 Still other seed fell on good ground and yielded fruit, sprouting and growing and producing a crop: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.” 9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When Jesus was alone, those who were around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11 He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but everything comes in parables to those who are outside, 12 so that
they will certainly see but not perceive,
and they will certainly hear but not understand.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.”[a]
13 Then he asked them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and immediately takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Some are like the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they immediately welcome it with joy. 17 Yet since they have no root in themselves, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. 18 Still others are sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things enter in and choke the word, so it becomes unfruitful. 20 But the ones sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much as was sown.”
A Lamp and a Lampstand
21 He also said to them, “A lamp is not brought out to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it placed on a lampstand? 22 For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24 He went on to tell them, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. 25 Yes, whoever has will be given more. And whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
Seed Sprouts and Grows
26 He said, “The kingdom of God is like this: A man scatters seed on the ground, 27 and while he sleeps and rises, night and day, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 The ground produces fruit on its own: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 When the crop is ready, he swings the sickle without delay, because the harvest has come.”
Mustard Seed
30 Then he said, “To what should we compare the kingdom of God? Or with what parable may we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which when sown on the ground is one of the smallest of all the seeds planted in the ground. 32 Yet when it is planted, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches so that the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”
33 With many similar parables he continued to speak the word to them, as much as they were able to hear. 34 He did not speak to them without a parable. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 On that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36 After leaving the crowd behind, the disciples took him along in the boat, just as he was. Other small boats also followed him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves were splashing into the boat, so that the boat was quickly filling up. 38 Jesus himself was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to drown?”
39 Then he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still lack faith?”
41 They were filled with awe and said to one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
Footnotes
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The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.