Mark 4:1-9

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

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

3“Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow.

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

5Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn’t deep.

6When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit.

8Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”

9Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”