Mark 4:10–20

¹⁰Later Jesus was alone. The Twelve asked him about the stories. So did the others around him. ¹¹He told them, “The secret of God’s kingdom has been given to you. But to outsiders everything is told by using stories. ¹²In that way,

“ ‘They will see but never know what they are seeing.

They will hear but never understand.

Otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ”

¹³Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this story? Then how will you understand any stories of this kind? ¹⁴The seed the farmer plants is God’s message. ¹⁵What is seed scattered on a path like? The message is planted. The people hear the message. Then Satan comes. He takes away the message that was planted in them. ¹⁶And what is seed scattered on rocky places like? The people hear the message. At once they receive it with joy. ¹⁷But they have no roots. So they last only a short time. They quickly fall away from the faith when trouble or suffering comes because of the message. ¹⁸And what is seed scattered among thorns like? The people hear the message. ¹⁹But then the worries of this life come to them. Wealth comes with its false promises. The people also long for other things. All of those are the kinds of things that crowd out the message. They keep it from producing fruit. ²⁰And what is seed scattered on good soil like? The people hear the message. They accept it. They produce a good crop 30, 60, or even 100 times more than the farmer planted.”