Mark 4:1–12

¹And again he began to teach by the sea, and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he, having gone into the boat, sat in the sea, and all the multitude was near the sea, on the land, ²and he taught them many things in similes, and he said to them in his teaching: ³‘Hearken, lo, the sower went forth to sow; ⁴and it came to pass, in the sowing, some fell by the way, and the fowls of the heaven did come and devour it; ⁵and other fell upon the rocky ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang forth, because of not having depth of earth, ⁶and the sun having risen, it was scorched, and because of not having root it did wither; ⁷and other fell toward the thorns, and the thorns did come up, and choke it, and fruit it gave not; ⁸and other fell to the good ground, and was giving fruit, coming up and increasing, and it bare, one thirty-fold, and one sixty, and one an hundred.’ ⁹And he said to them, ‘He who is having ears to hear—let him hear.’ ¹⁰And when he was alone, those about him, with the twelve, did ask him of the simile, ¹¹and he said to them, ‘To you it hath been given to know the secret of the reign of God, but to those who are without, in similes are all the things done; ¹²that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they may turn, and the sins may be forgiven them.’