Mark 4

¹And again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathers to him, so that he, having climbed into a boat, sat on the sea, and all the crowd was by the sea on the shore.

²And he was teaching them many things in parables, and he said to them in his teaching,

³Listen! Look, the sower went out to sow.

⁴And it came to pass as he was sowing, some fell alongside the road, and the birds of the sky came and devoured it.

⁵And another fell upon the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.

⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

⁷And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

⁸And other seeds fell into the good soil, and it was yielding fruit growing up and increasing, and it bore thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

⁹And he was saying to them, 'Who has ears to hear, let him hear.'

¹⁰And when he was alone, those around him with the Twelve were asking him about the parables.

¹¹And he was saying to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those outside everything comes in parables.'

¹²so that looking they may look and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they should turn and it be forgiven them.

¹³And he says to them: ‘Do you not know this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?’

¹⁴The sower sows the word.

¹⁵These are those along the path where the word is sown, and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown into them.

¹⁶And these likewise are those sown upon the rocky places, who when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy,

¹⁷and they have no root in themselves, but are temporary; then when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.

¹⁸And others are those sown among the thorns; these are the ones who heard the word,

¹⁹and the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for the other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²⁰And those are the ones sown upon the good soil, who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

²¹And he was saying to them, 'Does a lamp come to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not so that it may be put on a lampstand?'

²²For nothing is hidden except that it should be made manifest, nor did anything become concealed but that it should come into the open.

²³If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

²⁴And he was saying to them: 'Take heed what you hear. With the measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you who hear.'

²⁵For whoever has, it will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

²⁶And he was saying, Thus is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed upon the earth,

²⁷and he sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, he himself does not know how.

²⁸For the earth produces fruit by itself -- first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

²⁹But when the grain yields, immediately he sends the sickle, for the harvest has come.

³⁰And he was saying: 'How shall we liken the kingdom of God, or in what parable shall we present it?'

³¹like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth.

³²and when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all garden plants and makes great branches, so that the birds of heaven can nest under its shade.

³³And with many such parables he was speaking the word to them, just as they were able to hear.

³⁴But without a parable he did not speak to them; privately, however, to his own disciples he was explaining everything.

³⁵And he says to them, on that day when evening had come, 'Let us cross over to the other side.'

³⁶And having dismissed the crowd, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat; and other boats were also with him.

³⁷And a great windstorm of wind arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that it was already being swamped.

³⁸And he himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. And they wake him and say to him: 'Teacher, does it not concern you that we are perishing?'

³⁹And having been awakened, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Be silent, be muzzled.' And the wind abated, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰And he said to them, Why are you cowardly? Have you still no faith?

⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and were saying to one another: 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'