Mark 4:1–12

The Parable of the Sower

4^*Again Jesus began to teach beside Lake Galilee. The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it. The boat was out in the water, and the crowd stood on the shore at the water’s edge. ²He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them:

³“Listen! Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. ⁴As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn’t deep. ⁶Then, when the sun came up, it burnt the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up. ⁷Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants, and they didn’t produce any corn. ⁸But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and produced corn: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others a hundred.”

⁹And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰When Jesus was alone, some of those who had heard him came to him with the twelve disciples and asked him to explain the parables. ¹¹“You have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God,” Jesus answered. “But the others, who are on the outside, hear all things by means of parables, ^12*so that,

‘They may look and look,

yet not see;

they may listen and listen,

yet not understand.

For if they did, they would turn to God,

and he would forgive them.’ ”