Mark 4:26–34

²⁶And he said, ‘Thus is the reign of God: as if a man may cast the seed on the earth, ²⁷and may sleep, and may rise night and day, and the seed spring up and grow, he hath not known how; ²⁸for of itself doth the earth bear fruit, first a blade, afterwards an ear, afterwards full corn in the ear; ²⁹and whenever the fruit may yield itself, immediately he doth send forth the sickle, because the harvest hath come.’ ³⁰And he said, ‘To what may we liken the reign of God, or in what simile may we compare it? ³¹As a grain of mustard, which, whenever it may be sown on the earth, is less than any of the seeds that are on the earth; ³²and whenever it may be sown, it cometh up, and doth become greater than any of the herbs, and doth make great branches, so that under its shade the fowls of the heaven are able to rest.’ ³³And with many such similes he was speaking to them the word, as they were able to hear, ³⁴and without a simile he was not speaking to them, and by themselves, to his disciples he was expounding all.