4:1 Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while 1 the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake. 4:2 He taught them many things in parables, 2 and in his teaching said to them: 4:3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 3 4:4 And as he sowed, some seed 4 fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 4:5 Other seed fell on rocky ground 5 where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. 6 4:6 When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, 7 it withered. 4:7 Other seed fell among the thorns, 8 and they grew up and choked it, 9 and it did not produce grain. 4:8 But 10 other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times.” 4:9 And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!” 11
4:10 When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 4:11 He said to them, “The secret 12 of the kingdom of God has been given 13 to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,
4:12 so that although they look they may look but not see,
and although they hear they may hear but not understand,
so they may not repent and be forgiven.” 14
4:13 He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? Then 15 how will you understand any parable? 4:14 The sower sows the word. 4:15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan 16 comes and snatches the word 17 that was sown in them. 4:16 These are the ones sown on rocky ground: As soon as they hear the word, they receive it with joy. 4:17 But 18 they have no root in themselves and do not endure. 19 Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away. 4:18 Others are the ones sown among thorns: They are those who hear the word, 4:19 but 20 worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, 21 and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, 22 and it produces nothing. 4:20 But 23 these are the ones sown on good soil: They hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirty times as much, one sixty, and one a hundred.”
4:21 He also said to them, “A lamp 24 isn’t brought to be put under a basket 25 or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it to be placed on a lampstand? 4:22 For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, 26 and nothing concealed except to be brought to light. 4:23 If anyone has ears to hear, he had better listen!” 27 4:24 And he said to them, “Take care about what you hear. The measure you use will be the measure you receive, 28 and more will be added to you. 4:25 For whoever has will be given more, but 29 whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” 30
4:26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground.