Aug 12, 2018
Mark 4:1-20
Again He began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd
gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it
on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.
2 And He was teaching them many things in parables,
and in His teaching He said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold,
a sower went out to sow.4 And as he sowed, some
seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have
much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth
of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and
since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other
seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and
it yielded no grain.8 And other seeds fell into
good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and
yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
9 And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.”
10 And when He was alone, those around Him with the
twelve asked Him about the parables. 11 And He said
to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God,
but for those outside everything is in parables, 12
so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear
but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”
13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this
parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14 The sower sows the word. 15 And
these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown:
when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the
word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones
sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word,
immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no
root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when
tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word,
immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones
sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,
19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of
riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the
word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were
sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and
accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a
hundredfold.”