The Parable of the Sower Explained

13 Then(A) he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable?(B) How then will you understand all of the parables? 14 The sower sows(C) the word.(D) 15 Some are like the word sown on the path.(E) When they hear, immediately Satan(F) comes and takes away the word(G) sown in them.[a] 16 And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.(H) 17 But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress(I) or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.(J) 18 Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the worries(K) of this age,(L) the deceitfulness[b](M) of wealth,(N) and the desires(O) for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.(P) 20 And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word,(Q) welcome it, and produce fruit(R) thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”

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Footnotes

  1. 4:15 Other mss read in their hearts
  2. 4:19 Or seduction

Explanation of the Parable

13 (A)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 These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately (B)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17 and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately they [a]fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of (C)the [b]world, and the (D)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it [c]becomes unfruitful. 20 And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and (E)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 4:17 I.e., from the faith
  2. Mark 4:19 Or age
  3. Mark 4:19 Or proves to be unfruitful