Mark 4:1–12

The Parable of the Sower

4:1–12pp—Mt 13:1–15; Lk 8:4–10 4:13–20pp—Mt 13:18–23; Lk 8:11–15

4Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.^s The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. ²He taught them many things by parables,^t and in his teaching said: ³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.^{u 4}As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”^v

⁹Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^w

¹⁰When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God^x has been given to you. But to those on the outside^y everything is said in parables ¹²so that,

“ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’^a”^z