Mark 4:1–12

The Parable of the Sower

^1aAnd He began to teach again ^bby the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^cHe got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.

²And He was teaching them many things in ^aparables, and was saying to them in His teaching,

³“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;

⁴and it happened that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

⁵“And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

⁶“And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷“And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no ¹crop.

⁸“And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a ¹crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

⁹And He was saying, “^aHe who has ears to hear, ¹let him hear.”

¹⁰And when He was alone, ¹His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.

¹¹And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to ^athose who are outside, everything comes ^bin parables,

¹²so that ^awhile seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven.”