Mark 4:1-14

¹He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ²And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” ⁹And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, ¹²so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”

¹³And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴The sower sows the word.