Mark 4:30-34

301And He was saying, “How shall we 23picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is the smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that 4the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”

33And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to 5understand it; 34and He did not speak to them 6without a parable; but He was 7explaining everything privately to His own disciples.