Mark 4:26–41

The Parable of the Seed

²⁶And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;

²⁷and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.

²⁸“The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

²⁹“But when the grain ¹is ripe, he immediately ^2aputs in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30aAnd He was saying, “How shall we ^bcompare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?

³¹“It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is ¹smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil,

³²yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes ¹largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that ^athe birds of the ²air can nest under its shade.”

³³And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

³⁴and He was not speaking to them ^awithout a parable; but He was ^bexplaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Calms a Storm

^35aAnd on that day, when evening came, He ^*said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”

³⁶¹And leaving the crowd, they ^*took Him along with them ^ain the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.

³⁷And a great windstorm ^*arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up.

³⁸And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they ^*got Him up and ^*said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹And He woke up and ^arebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and ¹it became ²perfectly calm.

⁴⁰And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? ^aDo you still have no faith?”

⁴¹And they became ¹very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”