Mark 4:11-27

¹¹And he said to them, To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are given in the form of stories;

¹²So that seeing they may see, and it will not be clear to them; and hearing it, they will not get the sense; for fear that they may be turned again to me and have forgiveness.

¹³And he said to them, If you are not clear about this story, how will you be clear about the others?

¹⁴The seed is the word.

¹⁵And these are they by the wayside, where the word is planted; and when they have given ear, the Evil One comes straight away and takes away the word which has been planted in them.

¹⁶And in the same way, these are they who are planted on the stones, who, when the word has come to their ears, straight away take it with joy;

¹⁷And they have no root in themselves, but go on for a time; then, when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, they quickly become full of doubts.

¹⁸And others are those planted among the thorns; these are they who have given ear to the word,

¹⁹And the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, and the desire for other things coming in, put a stop to the growth of the word, and it gives no fruit.

²⁰And these are they who were planted on the good earth; such as give ear to the word, and take it into their hearts, and give fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundred times as much.

²¹And he said to them, When the light comes in, do people put it under a vessel, or under the bed, and not on its table?

²²There is nothing covered which will not be seen openly, and nothing has been made secret which will not come to light.

²³If any man has ears, let him give ear.

²⁴And he said to them, Take care what you give ear to: in the same measure as you give you will get, and more will be given to you.

²⁵He who has, to him will be given: and he who has not, from him will be taken even that which he has.

²⁶And he said, Such is the kingdom of God, as if a man put seed in the earth,

²⁷And went to sleep and got up, night and day, and the seed came to growth, though he had no idea how.