Markus 4:14

4:14 The sower sows the word.

Markus 4:26-29

The Parable of the Growing Seed

4:26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground. 4:27 He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 4:28 By itself the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 4:29 And when the grain is ripe, he sends in the sickle ¹  because the harvest has come.” ² 

Pengkhotbah 11:6

11:6 Sow your seed in the morning,

and do not stop working ³  until the evening; ⁴ 

for you do not know which activity ⁵  will succeed ⁶  –

whether this one or that one, or whether both will prosper equally. ⁷ 

Yesaya 28:23-26

28:23 Pay attention and listen to my message! ⁸ 

Be attentive and listen to what I have to say! ⁹ 

28:24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? ¹⁰ 

Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground?

28:25 Once he has leveled its surface,

does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant,

sow the seed of the cumin plant,

and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places? ¹¹ 

28:26 His God instructs him;

he teaches him the principles of agriculture. ¹² 

Matius 13:3

13:3 He ¹³  told them many things in parables, ¹⁴  saying: “Listen! ¹⁵  A sower went out to sow. ¹⁶ 

Matius 13:24

The Parable of the Weeds

13:24 He presented them with another parable: ¹⁷  “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field.

Matius 13:26

13:26 When ¹⁸  the plants sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

Lukas 8:5-8

8:5 “A sower went out to sow ¹⁹  his seed. ²⁰  And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled on, and the wild birds ²¹  devoured it. 8:6 Other seed fell on rock, ²²  and when it came up, it withered because it had no moisture. 8:7 Other seed fell among the thorns, ²³  and they grew up with it and choked ²⁴  it. 8:8 But ²⁵  other seed fell on good soil and grew, ²⁶  and it produced a hundred times as much grain.” ²⁷  As he said this, ²⁸  he called out, “The one who has ears to hear had better listen!” ²⁹ 

Yohanes 4:35-38

4:35 Don’t you say, ³⁰  ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up ³¹  and see that the fields are already white ³²  for harvest! 4:36 The one who reaps receives pay ³³  and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. 4:37 For in this instance the saying is true, ³⁴  ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 4:38 I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

Yohanes 4:1

Departure From Judea

4:1 Now when Jesus ³⁵  knew that the Pharisees ³⁶  had heard that he ³⁷  was winning ³⁸  and baptizing more disciples than John

Kolose 3:6-9

3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ³⁹  3:7 You also lived your lives ⁴⁰  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 3:8 But now, put off all such things ⁴¹  as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices

[4:29]  ¹ tn The Greek word εὐθύς (euqus, often translated “immediately” or “right away”) has not been translated here. It sometimes occurs with a weakened, inferential use (BDAG 406 s.v. 2), not contributing significantly to the flow of the narrative. For further discussion, see R. J. Decker, Temporal Deixis of the Greek Verb in the Gospel of Mark with Reference to Verbal Aspect (SBG 10), 73-77.

[4:29]  ² sn Because the harvest has come. This parable is found only in Mark (cf. Matt 13:24-30) and presents a complete picture of the coming of God’s kingdom: (1) sowing; (2) growth; (3) harvest. Some understand the parable as a reference to evangelism. While this is certainly involved, it does not seem to be the central idea. In contrast to the parable of the sower which emphasizes the quality of the different soils, this parable emphasizes the power of the seed to cause growth (with the clear implication that the mysterious growth of the kingdom is accomplished by God), apart from human understanding and observation.

[11:6]  ³ tn Heb “do not let your hand rest.” The Hebrew phrase “do not let your hand rest” is an idiom that means “do not stop working” or “do not be idle” (e.g., Eccl 7:18); cf. BDB 628 s.v. נוּחַ B.1. Several English versions capture the sense of the idiom well: “do not stop working” (NEB); “do not be idle” (MLB); “let not your hand be idle” (NAB); “let not your hands be idle” (NIV); “stay not your hand” (Moffatt). The term “hand” is a synecdoche of part (i.e., do not let your hand rest) for the whole person (i.e., do not allow yourself to stop working).

[11:6]  ⁴ tn The terms “morning” (בֹּקֶר, boqer) and “evening” (עֶרֶב, ’erev) form a merism (a figure of speech using two polar extremes to include everything in between) that connotes “from morning until evening.” The point is not that the farmer should plant at two times in the day (morning and evening), but that he should plant all day long (from morning until evening). This merism is reflected in several translations: “in the morning…until evening” (NEB, Moffatt).

[11:6]  ⁵ tn The term “activity” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[11:6]  ⁶ tn The verb כָּשֵׁר (kasher, “to prosper”) is used metonymically to denote “will succeed.” In 11:10, it means “skill in work.”

[11:6]  ⁷ tn Or “together.”

[28:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “to my voice.”

[28:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “to my word”; cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “hear my speech.”

[28:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “All the day does the plowman plow in order to plant?” The phrase “all the day” here has the sense of “continually, always.” See BDB 400 s.v. יוֹם.

[28:25]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “place wheat [?], and barley [?], and grain in its territory.” The term שׂוֹרָה (shorah) is sometimes translated “[in] its place,” but the word is unattested elsewhere. It is probably due to dittography of the immediately following שְׂעֹרָה (sÿo’rah, “barley”). The meaning of נִסְמָן (nisman) is also uncertain. It may be due to dittography of the immediately following כֻסֶּמֶת (kussemet, “grain”).

[28:26]  ¹² tn Heb “he teaches him the proper way, his God instructs him.”

[13:3]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[13:3]  ¹⁴ sn Though parables can contain a variety of figures of speech (cf. the remainder of chapter 13), many times they are simply stories that attempt to teach spiritual truth (which is unknown to the hearers) by using a comparison with something known to the hearers. In general, parables usually advance a single idea, though there may be many parts and characters in a single parable and subordinate ideas may expand the main idea further. The beauty of using the parable as a teaching device is that it draws the listener into the story, elicits an evaluation, and demands a response.

[13:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Behold.”

[13:3]  ¹⁶ sn A sower went out to sow. The background for this well-known parable, drawn from a typical scene in the Palestinian countryside, is a field through which a well-worn path runs. Sowing would occur in late fall or early winter (October to December) in the rainy season, looking for sprouting in April or May and a June harvest. The use of seed as a figure for God’s giving life has OT roots (Isa 55:10-11). The point of the parable of the sower is to illustrate the various responses to the message of the kingdom of God.

[13:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[13:26]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:5]  ¹⁹ sn A sower went out to sow. The background for this well-known parable is a field through which a well-worn path runs in the Palestinian countryside. Sowing would occur in late fall or early winter (October to December) in the rainy season, looking for sprouting in April or May and a June harvest. The use of seed as a figure for God’s giving life has OT roots: Isa 55:10-11.

[8:5]  ²⁰ tn Luke’s version of the parable, like Mark’s (cf. Mark 4:1-9) uses the collective singular to refer to the seed throughout, so singular pronouns have been used consistently throughout this parable in the English translation. However, the parallel account in Matt 13:1-9 begins with plural pronouns in v. 4 but then switches to the collective singular in v. 5 ff.

[8:5]  ²¹ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[8:6]  ²² sn The rock in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.

[8:7]  ²³ sn Palestinian weeds like these thorns could grow up to six feet in height and have a major root system.

[8:7]  ²⁴ sn That is, crowded out the good plants.

[8:8]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in the final stage of the parable.

[8:8]  ²⁶ tn Grk “when it grew, after it grew.”

[8:8]  ²⁷ sn Unlike the parallel accounts in Matt 13:8 and Mark 4:8, there is no distinction in yield in this version of the parable.

[8:8]  ²⁸ tn Grk “said these things.”

[8:8]  ²⁹ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 14:35).

[4:35]  ³⁰ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after λέγετε (legete) has not been translated.

[4:35]  ³¹ tn Grk “lift up your eyes” (an idiom). BDAG 357 s.v. ἐπαίρω 1 has “look up” here.

[4:35]  ³² tn That is, “ripe.”

[4:36]  ³³ tn Or “a reward”; see L&N 38.14 and 57.173. This is something of a wordplay.

[4:37]  ³⁴ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after ἀληθινός (alhqino") has not been translated.

[4:1]  ³⁵ tc Several early and important witnesses, along with the majority of later ones (Ì^66c,75 A B C L W^s Ψ 083 ˹³ 33 Ï sa), have κύριος (kurio", “Lord”) here instead of ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsou", “Jesus”). As significant as this external support is, the internal evidence seems to be on the side of ᾿Ιησοῦς. “Jesus” is mentioned two more times in the first two verses of chapter four in a way that is stylistically awkward (so much so that the translation has substituted the pronoun for the first one; see tn note below). This seems to be sufficient reason to motivate scribes to change the wording to κύριος. Further, the reading ᾿Ιησοῦς is not without decent support, though admittedly not as strong as that for κύριος (Ì^66* א D Θ 086 ˹ 565 1241 al lat bo). On the other hand, this Gospel speaks of Jesus as Lord in the evangelist’s narrative descriptions elsewhere only in 11:2; 20:18, 20; 21:12; and probably 6:23, preferring ᾿Ιησοῦς most of the time. This fact could be used to argue that scribes, acquainted with John’s style, changed κύριος to ᾿Ιησοῦς. But the immediate context generally is weighed more heavily than an author’s style. It is possible that neither word was in the original text and scribes supplied what they thought most appropriate (see TCGNT 176). But without ms evidence to this effect coupled with the harder reading ᾿Ιησοῦς, this conjecture must remain doubtful. All in all, it is best to regard ᾿Ιησοῦς as the original reading here.

[4:1]  ³⁶ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[4:1]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Jesus”; the repetition of the proper name is somewhat redundant in English (see the beginning of the verse) and so the pronoun (“he”) has been substituted here.

[4:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “was making.”

[3:6]  ³⁹ tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì⁴⁶ share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.

[3:6]  sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 5:6.

[3:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).

[3:8]  ⁴¹ tn The Greek article with τὰ πάντα (ta panta) is anaphoric, referring to the previous list of vices, and has been translated here as “all such things.”