Mark 4-5

Amplified Bible

Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again Jesus began to teach beside the sea [of Galilee]. And a very large crowd gathered around Him, so He got into a boat [anchoring it a short distance out] on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore.^{(A) 2} And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them, ³ “Listen! A sower went out to sow seed; ⁴ and as he was sowing, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocks where there was not much soil; and immediately a plant sprang up ^[a]because the soil had no depth. ⁶ And when the sun came up, the plant was scorched; and because it had no root, it dried up and withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seed fell into good soil, and as the plants grew and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times [as much as had been sown].” ⁹ And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, together with the twelve [disciples], began asking Him about [the interpretation of] the parables. ¹¹ He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts], but those who are outside [the unbelievers, the spiritually blind] get everything in parables, ¹² so that they will continually look but not see, and they will continually hear but not understand, otherwise they might turn [from their rejection of the truth] and be forgiven.”^(B)

Explanation

¹³ Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand and grasp the meaning of all the parables?^{(C) 14} The sower sows the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation]. ¹⁵ These [in the first group] are the ones along the road where the word is sown; but when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ In a similar way these [in the second group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy [but accept it only superficially]; ¹⁷ and they have no real root in themselves, so they endure only for a little while; then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they [are offended and displeased at being associated with Me and] stumble and fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries and cares of the world [the distractions of this age with its worldly pleasures], and the deceitfulness [and the false security or glamour] of wealth [or fame], and the passionate desires for all the other things creep in and choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those [in the last group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation] and accept it and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much [as was sown].”

²¹ He said to them, “A lamp is not brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Is it not [brought in] to be put on the lampstand?^{(D) 22} For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been kept secret, but that it would come to light [that is, things are hidden only temporarily, until the appropriate time comes for them to be known].^{(E) 23} If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.” ²⁴ Then He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By your own standard of measurement [that is, to the extent that you study spiritual truth and apply godly wisdom] it will be measured to you [and you will be given even greater ability to respond]—and more will be given to you besides. ²⁵ For ^[b]whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a yearning for truth], even what he has will be taken away from him.”^(F)

Parable of the Seed

²⁶ Then He said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who throws seed on the ground; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up every day, and [in the meantime] the seed sprouts and grows; how [it does this], he does not know. ²⁸ The earth produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head [of grain], then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the crop ripens, he immediately puts in the sickle [to reap], because [the time for] the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ And He said, “How shall we ^[c]picture the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use to illustrate and explain it?^{(G) 31} It is like a mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the ground, even though it is ^[d]smaller than all the [other] seeds that are [sown] on the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden herbs; and it puts out large branches, so that the birds of the sky are able to make nests and live under its shade.”^(H)

³³ With many such parables, Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear and understand it; ³⁴ and He did not say anything to them without [using] a parable; He did, however, explain everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

³⁵ On that [same] day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side [of the Sea of Galilee].” ³⁶ So leaving the crowd, they took Him with them, just as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him.^{(I) 37} And a ^[e]fierce windstorm began to blow, and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already being swamped. ³⁸ But Jesus was in the stern, asleep [with His head] on the [sailor’s leather] cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are about to die?” ³⁹ And He got up and [sternly] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down [as if it had grown weary] and there was [at once] a great calm [a perfect peacefulness]. ⁴⁰ Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith and confidence [in Me]?” ⁴¹ They were filled with great fear, and said to each other, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

The Gerasene Demoniac

5 They came to the ^[f]other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.^{(J) 2} When Jesus got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, ³ and the man lived in the ^[g]tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with chains. ⁴ For he had often been bound with shackles [for the feet] and with chains, and he tore apart the chains and broke the shackles into pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue and tame him. ⁵ Night and day he was constantly screaming and shrieking among the tombs and on the mountains, and cutting himself with [sharp] stones. ⁶ Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him [in homage]; ⁷ and screaming with a loud voice, he said, “^[h]What business do we have in common with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God [swear to me], do not torment me!”^{(K) 8} For Jesus had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹ He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” ¹⁰ And he began begging Him repeatedly not to send them out of the region. ¹¹ Now there was a large herd of pigs grazing there on the mountain. ¹² And the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the pigs so that we may go into them!” ¹³ Jesus gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out [of the man] and entered the pigs. The herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea; and they were drowned [one after the other] in the sea.

¹⁴ The herdsmen [tending the pigs] ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what had happened. ¹⁵ They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the man who had [previously] had the “legion” [of demons]; and they were frightened. ¹⁶ Those who had seen it described [in detail] to the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man, and [told them all] about the pigs. ¹⁷ So the people began to beg with Jesus to leave their region. ¹⁸ As He was stepping into the boat, the [Gentile] man who had been demon-possessed was begging with Him [asking] that he might go with Him [as a disciple]. ¹⁹ Jesus did not let him [come], but [instead] He said to him, “Go home to your family and tell them all the great things that the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” ²⁰ So he [obeyed and] went away and began to publicly proclaim in Decapolis [the region of the ten Hellenistic cities] all the great things that Jesus had done for him; and all the people were astonished.

Miracles and Healing

²¹ When Jesus had again crossed over in the boat to the other side [of the sea], a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore. ²² One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up; and seeing Him, fell at His feet^{(L) 23} and begged anxiously with Him, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; [please] come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live.” ²⁴ And Jesus went with him; and a large crowd followed Him and pressed in around Him [from all sides].

²⁵ A woman [in the crowd] had [suffered from] a hemorrhage for twelve years, ²⁶ and had endured much [suffering] at the hands of many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse. ²⁷ She had heard [reports] about Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His outer robe. ²⁸ For she thought, “If I just touch His clothing, I will get well.” ²⁹ Immediately her flow of blood was dried up; and she felt in her body [and knew without any doubt] that she was healed of her suffering. ³⁰ Immediately Jesus, recognizing in Himself that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched My clothes?” ³¹ His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in around You [from all sides], and You ask, ‘Who touched Me?’” ³² Still He kept looking around to see the woman who had done it. ³³ And the woman, though she was afraid and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴ Then He said to her, “Daughter, your faith [your personal trust and confidence in Me] has restored you to health; go in peace and be [permanently] healed from your suffering.”

³⁵ While He was still speaking, some people came from the synagogue official’s house, saying [to Jairus], “Your daughter has died; why bother the Teacher any longer?” ³⁶ Overhearing what was being said, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; only keep on believing [in Me and my power].” ³⁷ And He allowed no one to go with Him [as witnesses], except Peter and ^[i]James and John the brother of James. ³⁸ They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He looked [with understanding] at the uproar and commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing [in mourning]. ³⁹ When He had gone in, He said to them, “Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is sleeping.” ⁴⁰ They began laughing [scornfully] at Him [because they knew the child was dead]. But He made them all ^[j]go outside, and took along the child’s father and mother and His own [three] companions, and entered the room where the child was. ⁴¹ Taking the child’s hand, He said [tenderly] to her, “Talitha kum!”—which translated [from Aramaic] means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” ⁴² The little girl immediately got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they [who witnessed the child’s resurrection] were overcome with great wonder and utter amazement. ⁴³ He gave strict orders that no one should know about this, and He told them to give her something to eat.