Mark 4

1And again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathers to him, so that he got into a boat and sat on the sea, and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.

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

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

4And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

5And other seed fell on the rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up at once because it had no depth of soil.

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

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

8And other seed fell into the good soil, and it was producing fruit, growing up and increasing, and bearing thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

9And he was saying, “Whoever 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 the mystery of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those outside everything comes in parables,”

12so that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they turn back and it be forgiven them.

13And he says to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?”

14The sower sows the word.

15And these are the ones along the road where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

16And these are likewise the ones sown on the rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy,

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

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

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

20And those are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and receive it and bear fruit—thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

21And he was saying to them, “A lamp does not come to be put under a basket or under a bed, does it? Is it not to be put on the lampstand?”

22For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, nor has anything become concealed except to come to light.

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

24And he was saying to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you.”

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

26And he was saying, “The kingdom of God is like this: as when a man casts the seed upon the ground,”

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

28The soil bears fruit by itself: first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

29But when the crop is ready, he immediately sends in the sickle, because the harvest has come.

30And he was saying, “How should we compare the kingdom of God, or in what parable should we set it forth?”

31It is like a mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the ground, being smaller than all the seeds on the ground—

32and when it is sown, it comes up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and it produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky are able to nest under its shade.

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

34And he was not speaking to them without a parable, but in private he was explaining everything to his own disciples.

35And he says to them on that day, when evening had come, “Let us go across to the other side.”

36And leaving the crowd, they take him with them just as he was, in the boat, and other boats were with him.

37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

38But he himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

39And having awakened, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

40And he said to them, “Why are you so fearful? Do you still have no faith?”

41And they feared a great fear, and they said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”