Mark 4:1–12

Parable of the Soils

Matt. 13:1–23; Luke 8:4–15

4And ^aagain He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. ²Then He taught them many things by parables, ^band said to them in His teaching:

³“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds ¹of the air came and devoured it. ⁵Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. ⁶But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. ⁷And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no ²crop. ⁸But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

⁹And He said ³to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

^10cBut when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. ¹¹And He said to them, “To you it has been given to ^dknow the ⁴mystery of the kingdom of God; but to ^ethose who are outside, all things come in parables, ¹²so that

^f‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,

And hearing they may hear and not understand;

Lest they should turn,

And their sins be forgiven them.’ ”