Mark 4:26-5:20

English Standard Version

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶ And he said, ^(A)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(B)he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once ^(C)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (D)And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like ^(E)a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

^33 (F)With many such parables he spoke ^(G)the word to them, ^(H)as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them ^(I)without a parable, but ^(J)privately to his own disciples he ^(K)explained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm

^35 (L)On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves ^(M)were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and ^(N)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and ^(O)there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you ^(P)so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ^(Q)“Who then is this, that even ^(R)the wind and the sea obey him?”

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon

5 ^(S)They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.^{[a] 2} And when Jesus^[b] had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. ^3 (T)He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, ⁴ for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. ⁶ And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and ^(U)fell down before him. ⁷ And ^(V)crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, ^(W)Son of ^(X)the Most High God? ^(Y)I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” ⁸ For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹ And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is ^(Z)Legion, for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. ¹¹ Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, ¹² and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” ¹³ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

¹⁴ The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵ And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed^[c] man, the one who had had ^(AA)the legion, sitting there, ^(AB)clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ¹⁶ And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. ¹⁷ And ^(AC)they began to beg Jesus^[d] to depart from their region. ¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹ And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and ^(AD)tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in ^(AE)the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.