Mark 4

1Again he began to teach beside the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him, so he got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was on the shore facing the sea.

2He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them,

3“Listen! A sower went out to sow.

4As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was not deep.

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

7Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no grain.

8Still other seed fell into good soil. It came up, grew, and produced grain, yielding thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

9And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

10When he was alone, those who were around him, together with the twelve, asked him about the parables.

11He said to them, “To you the secret of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those outside everything comes in parables,

12so that they may look and look but not see, and listen and listen but not understand; otherwise they might turn back and be forgiven.”

13Then he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables?

14The sower sows the word.

15These are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: as soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

16These are the ones sown on rocky ground: as soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy.

17But they have no root in themselves; they last only a short time. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

18Others are the ones sown among the thorns. These are the ones who hear the word,

19but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it produces nothing.

20And these are the ones sown on good soil: they hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

21He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not brought in to be put on a lampstand?

22For nothing is hidden except to be made known, and nothing is kept secret except to come out into the open.

23If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

24He also said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. The measure you use will be the measure used for you, and still more will be added to you.

25For whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken away from them.”

26He also said, “The kingdom of God is like this: a man scatters seed on the ground.

27He sleeps and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

28The earth produces crops by itself: first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

29But as soon as the grain is ripe, he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30He also said, “What can we compare the kingdom of God to, or what parable can we use for it?

31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.

32Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes the largest of all garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.”

33With many parables like these he spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to hear.

34He did not speak to them without a parable, but when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

35On that day, when evening came, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”

36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. Other boats were with him.

37A fierce windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already filling up.

38But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

39He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down, and there was a great calm.

40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41They were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”