Mark 4:1-9

Christian Standard Bible

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again^(A) he began to teach^(B) by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around him. So he got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore. ² He taught them many things in parables,^(C) and in his teaching^(D) he said to them, ³ “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow.^{(E) 4} As he sowed, some seed fell along the path,^(F) and the birds came and devoured^(G) it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly,^(H) since the soil wasn’t deep. ⁶ When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.^{(I) 7} Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased^(J) thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”^{(K) 9} Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”^(L)