¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.^{(A) 16} And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But they have no root and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.^{[a] 18} And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the age and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²⁰ And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket

²¹ He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not on the lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.^{(B) 23} If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^(C)