13 (A)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 (B)The sower sows (C)the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it (D)with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but (E)endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately (F)they fall away.[a] 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but (G)the cares of (H)the world and (I)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and (J)bear fruit, (K)thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 4:17 Or stumble

The Parable of the Sower Interpreted

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones beside the path where the word is sown, and whenever they hear it,[a] immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 And these are like[b] the ones sown on the rocky ground, who whenever they hear the word immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but are temporary. Then when[c] affliction or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among the thorn plants—these are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and[d] choke the word and it becomes unproductive. 20 And those are the ones sown on the good soil, who hear the word and receive it[e] and bear fruit—one thirty and one sixty and one a hundred times as much.”[f]

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 4:15 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  2. Mark 4:16 Some manuscripts omit “like”
  3. Mark 4:17 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“comes”)
  4. Mark 4:19 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“come in”) has been translated as a finite verb
  5. Mark 4:20 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  6. Mark 4:20 The phrase “times as much” is not in the Greek text but is implied