Mark Chapter 4    

¹And again he began to teach beside the lake.^a And such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat in the lake and sat down, and the whole crowd was on the land facing the lake.
  ²And he was teaching them many things in parables and was saying to them in his teaching,
  ³“Listen! Pay attention! The sower went out to sow,
  ⁴and it came to pass as he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
  ⁵And some fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up because the soil was not deep.
  ⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away.
  ⁷And some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
  ⁸And some fell onto the good soil and yielded fruit; springing up and growing, and it produced fruit—some thirtyfold, and some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.”
  ⁹And he was saying, “Anyone who has ears to hear had better listen!”
 

¹⁰When he was alone, the ones who were around him, with the Twelve, began asking him the meaning of the parables.
  ¹¹And he was saying to them, “The sacred secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those who are outside, everything is in parables,
  ¹²with the result that although they see, they do not perceive, and although they hear, they do not understand; otherwise they would turn to God and be forgiven of their sin.”^b
 

¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables?
  ¹⁴The sower sows the word.
  ¹⁵Now these people are like the seed beside the path where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately the Adversary comes and takes away the word that has been sown in them.
 

¹⁶“And these people are like the seed being sown on the rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy,
  ¹⁷yet they do not have any root in themselves but are short-lived. Then, when hardship or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.
 

¹⁸“And others are like the seed sown among the thorns: these are the ones who have heard the word,
  ¹⁹but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
 

²⁰“And these people are like the seed sown on the good ground: those who hear the word, and accept it, and produce fruit; one thirtyfold, and another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.”
 

²¹And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought out in order to be put under a basket^c or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand?
  ²²For what is hidden is meant to be revealed, and what is concealed is meant to come out into the open.
  ²³Anyone who has ears to hear had better listen!”
 

²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you.
  ²⁵For whoever has, to him more will be given, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
 

²⁶And he said, “The Kingdom of God is like a person who scatters seed on the ground.
  ²⁷And he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, although he does not know how.
  ²⁸The earth bears fruit on its own—first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
  ²⁹But when the crop is ripe, immediately he wields the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
 

³⁰And he said, “To what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or by what parable can we explain it?
  ³¹It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds that are on the earth,
  ³²yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and grows large branches so that the birds of heaven are able to nest in its shade.”
 

³³And with many parables like these he spoke the word to them, and to the extent that they each were able to, they understood him;^{d
  34}and he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately, he explained everything to his own disciples.
 

³⁵And on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side.”
  ³⁶And leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as he was (and other boats were going along with him).
  ³⁷And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so much so that the boat was already filling up.
  ³⁸And he was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
  ³⁹And he got up, subdued the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and it became completely calm.
  ⁴⁰And he said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no trust?”
  ⁴¹And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the lake obey him?”