Mark 4:13-20

New Century Version

Jesus Explains the Seed Story

¹³ Then Jesus said to his followers, “Don’t you understand this story? If you don’t, how will you understand any story? ¹⁴ The farmer is like a person who plants God’s message in people. ¹⁵ Sometimes the teaching falls on the road. This is like the people who hear the teaching of God, but Satan quickly comes and takes away the teaching that was planted in them. ¹⁶ Others are like the seed planted on rocky ground. They hear the teaching and quickly accept it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they don’t allow the teaching to go deep into their lives, they keep it only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the teaching they accepted, they quickly give up. ¹⁸ Others are like the seed planted among the thorny weeds. They hear the teaching, ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the temptation of wealth, and many other evil desires keep the teaching from growing and producing fruit^[a] in their lives. ²⁰ Others are like the seed planted in the good ground. They hear the teaching and accept it. Then they grow and produce fruit—sometimes thirty times more, sometimes sixty times more, and sometimes a hundred times more.”