Mark 4:3-20
3“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4and it happened that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 5“And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 6“And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7“And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no 1crop. 8“And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a 1crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9And He was saying, “aHe who has ears to hear, 1let him hear.”
10And when He was alone, 1His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to athose who are outside, everything comes bin parables, 12so that awhile seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven.”
The Parable of the Sower Explained
13aAnd He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? 14“The sower sows the word. 15“And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately aSatan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16“And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky places: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; 17and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they 1fall away. 18“And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19but the worries of athe 1world, and the bdeceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20“And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and aare bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”