Luke 8:4-15

4Lots of people were coming to Jesus from many towns. A large crowd had already come together when Jesus told this story:

5‘A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. Then people walked on them. Birds came down and they ate those seeds.

6Some seeds fell on ground which had rocks. The seeds started to grow. But the young plants died because the ground was not wet enough in that place.

7Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants.

8But some seeds fell on good soil. Strong plants grew from those seeds. Each of these plants made 100 seeds.’ When Jesus finished the story, he said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

9Jesus' disciples asked him about this story. They asked him what it meant.

10Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But other people only listen to my stories. They look, but they do not really see clearly. They hear the words, but they do not really understand.’

11Jesus then said, ‘This is what the story means: The seeds are like the message from God.

12Some seeds fell on the path. That is like some people who hear the message, but they do not think about it. The Devil comes and he takes the message away from their minds. He takes it away so that they cannot believe it. Because they do not believe the message, God does not save them.

13Some seeds fell on ground with rocks in it. This is like people who hear the message from God and they are very happy for a time. But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. They believe in God for a short time. But when they have problems, they stop believing.

14Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like some other people who hear the message from God. But they start to have many troubles in their minds about how they will live. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow into strong plants.

15But some seed fell on good soil. This is like other people that hear the message from God. They understand the message and they keep it in their minds. They are good and honest. They continue to believe. These people are like a good plant that grows well and makes lots of new seeds.’