Mark 4:4-21

⁴Now as he was scattering the seeds, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate them up.

⁵Other seeds fell on stony ground where there wasn't much earth. In the shallow soil the plants started growing quickly, but because the soil wasn't deep

⁶they were scorched when the sun came up. Since they didn't have any real roots, they soon withered.

⁷Other seeds fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked the sprouting seeds, so they produced nothing.

⁸Other seeds fell on good soil where they sprouted and grew. They produced a harvest of some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred times what was planted.

⁹If you have ears to hear, listen to what I'm saying.”

¹⁰When he was by himself, his twelve disciples and the others who were with him asked him what the illustrations meant.

¹¹He told them, “The mystery of God's kingdom has been given to you to understand. But outsiders only have the stories,

¹²so that even though they see, they don't really ‘see,’ and even though they hear, they don't understand, otherwise they might turn to me and be forgiven.”

¹³“Don't you understand this story?” Jesus asked them. “If you can't, how are you going to understand all the other stories?

¹⁴The sower sows the word.

¹⁵The seeds on the path where the word is sown illustrate those who hear the message, but then Satan immediately comes along and takes away the word that's been sown in them.

¹⁶Likewise the seeds on the rocky ground illustrate those who hear the word, and happily accept it right away.

¹⁷But since they have no real roots, they only last for a while until trouble or persecution comes, and then they quickly fall away.

¹⁸Those sown among the thorns illustrate those who hear the word,

¹⁹but worries of this world, the temptation of wealth, and other distractions choke the growth of the word, and it becomes unproductive.

²⁰But the seeds sown on good soil illustrate those who hear the word, accept it, and are productive—producing thirty, sixty, and hundred times what was originally sown.

²¹Who puts a lamp under a bucket, or beneath a bed?” Jesus asked them. “No, you put a lamp up on a lamp-stand.