Mark 4:1–12

The Parable of the Sower

4Again ^vhe began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, ^wso that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ²And ^xhe was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³“Listen! ^yBehold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶And ^zwhen the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ^ait withered away. ⁷Other seed fell among ^bthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ^ca hundredfold.” ⁹And he said, ^d“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And ^ewhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, ^f“To you has been given ^gthe secret of the kingdom of God, but for ^hthose outside everything is in parables, ¹²ⁱso that

“ ‘they ^jmay indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they ^kshould turn and be forgiven.’ ”