Mark 4:1-12

1Again, Jesus began to teach people near the edge of Lake Galilee. A large crowd came together to listen to him. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The crowd of people stayed on the shore.

2Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said to them,

3‘Listen to me! A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field.

4While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. The birds came and they ate those seeds.

5Other seeds fell on ground which had many rocks. There was not much soil in that place. The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep.

6But when the sun rose, it burned the young plants. They soon died because they had not grown down well into the soil.

7Other seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. So the plants could not make any new seeds.

8But some seeds fell on good soil. Good strong plants grew from these seeds. Some plants made 30 new seeds. Some plants made 60 new seeds. And some plants made 100 new seeds.’

9Then Jesus said, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’

10When Jesus was alone, the 12 apostles and other people who were there asked him about the stories.

11Jesus replied, ‘God has let you understand how he rules in the lives of his people. But these other people only listen to stories.

12This is so that: “They are always looking but they do not see clearly. They are always listening but they do not understand.” If they did understand, they would turn to God. Then God would forgive them.’