Mark 4:21–34

A Lamp on a Stand

²¹He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?^{d 22}For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.^{e 23}If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”^f

²⁴“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.^{g 25}Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”^h

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like.ⁱ A man scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. ²⁸All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. ²⁹As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”^j

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

4:30–32pp—Mt 13:31,32; Lk 13:18,19

³⁰Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like,^k or what parable shall we use to describe it? ³¹It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. ³²Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

³³With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.^{l 34}He did not say anything to them without using a parable.^m But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.