Psalm 84:1-5

English Standard Version

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)The Gittith.^[a] A Psalm of ^(B)the Sons of Korah.

84 How ^(C)lovely is your ^(D)dwelling place,
    O Lord of hosts!
²My soul ^(E)longs, yes, ^(F)faints
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to ^(G)the living God.

³Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    ^(H)my King and my God.
⁴^(I)Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
    ever ^(J)singing your praise! Selah

⁵Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
^(K)in whose heart are the highways to Zion.^[b]

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Footnotes

Psalm 84:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 84:5 Hebrew lacks to Zion

Mark 4:26-34

English Standard Version

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶And he said, ^(A)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(B)he knows not how. ²⁸The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹But 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? ³¹It is like ^(E)a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³²yet 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. ³⁴He did not speak to them ^(I)without a parable, but ^(J)privately to his own disciples he ^(K)explained everything.