Mark 4:2-20

2Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:

3“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.

4And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.

5Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.

6But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.

7And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.

8But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

9And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

10But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.

11And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables,

12so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’ ”

13And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

14The sower sows the word.

15And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

16These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

17and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

18Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,

19and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

20But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”