The Parable of the Sower

13 On that day Jesus went out of the house and^[a] was sitting by the sea.^{[b] 2} And large crowds gathered close around him, so that he got into a boat to sit down, and all the crowd was standing on the shore. ³ And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow, ⁴ and while he was sowing, some seed^[c] fell on the side of the path, and the birds came and^[d] devoured it. ⁵ And other seed fell on the rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up at once because it did not have any depth of soil. ⁶ But when^[e] the sun rose it was scorched, and because it did not have enough root, it withered. ⁷ And other seed fell among the thorn plants, and the thorn plants came up and choked it. ⁸ But other seed fell on the good soil and produced grain,^[f] this one a hundred times as much and this one sixty and this one thirty. ⁹ The one who has ears, let him hear!”