Old/New Testament

8 Soon after this, Jesus went through the cities and towns. He told the people God's word about the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve disciples were with him.

² Some women were also with him. They had bad spirits and had been sick. But they had been healed. One was Mary, called Magdalene. Seven bad spirits had gone out of her.

³ Another one was Joanna, the wife of Chuza, who worked for Herod. Another one was Susanna. And there were many others who gave what they could to help him.

⁴ Many people came to him from many towns. Then he told them a story.

⁵ He said, `A man went out to sow his seed. As he sowed it, some seed fell on the road. People stepped on the seed. Birds ate it.

⁶ Some seed fell on the stony ground. It grew but soon died because the place was too dry.

⁷ Some seed fell among the weeds. The weeds grew up and made the new plants die.

⁸ But some seed fell on good ground and it grew well. Those plants gave a hundred times as much grain as the man sowed.' When Jesus had said this, he called out, `Everyone who has ears to hear, listen!'

⁹ His disciples asked Jesus what this story meant.

¹⁰ He said to them, `You can learn the secret things about the kingdom of God. But other people must have stories. They will look, but they will not see. They will hear, but they will not understand.'

¹¹ `Now here is what the story means. The seed is God's word.

¹² Some seeds fell on the road. They are like the people who hear the word of God. Then the devil comes and takes the word out of their hearts. He does not want them to believe and be saved.

¹³ Some seeds fell on the stones. They are like people who are glad when they hear the word. But it does not go down deep into their hearts. They believe for a short time. But when they have trouble they stop believing.

¹⁴ Some seeds fell among the weeds. They are like people who hear the word. But they think about the things of this world. They want to get money and things to be happy in this life. As they go on in life, these things push the message out of their hearts and no good comes from them.

¹⁵ Some seeds fell on good ground. They are like people who hear the word and remember it. Their hearts are honest and good. These people keep on believing, and much good comes from them.'

¹⁶ `No person lights a lamp and covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed. But he puts it on the place for a lamp. Then people who come in can see the light.

¹⁷ Everything that is hidden will be seen. Everything that is secret will be known and come out to be seen.

¹⁸ So take care how you listen. Anyone who has something will get more. But he who does not have anything, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.'

¹⁹ The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him. They could not reach him because there were so many people around him.

²⁰ Someone told him, `Your mother and brothers are standing outside. They want to talk to you.'

²¹ But he said to them, `These people who hear the word of God and do it, they are my mother and my brothers.'

²² One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples. He said to them, `Let us cross over to the other side of the sea.' So they started out.

²³ While they were going, Jesus was sleeping. A bad storm came on the sea. Water was coming into the boat, and they were in trouble.

²⁴ The disciples came to Jesus and woke him. They shouted, `Master! Master! We will die!' Jesus woke and said to the wind and the water, `Stop!' They stopped. Then all was quiet

²⁵ He said to the disciples, `Why do you not believe God?' They were afraid and surprised. They said to each other, `What kind of man is this? He tells the wind and the sea what to do and they obey him.'