﻿Mark.
Chapter 4.
Again he began to teach beside the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, while the whole crowd was on the land beside the sea. 
He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them, 
“Listen! Look, a sower went out to sow. 
As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it. 
Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. Immediately it sprang up because the soil was not deep. 
But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered. 
Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 
Other seeds fell into good soil and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing, producing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.” 
And he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.” 
When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 
He said to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables, 
so that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they turn and be forgiven.” 
He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 
The sower sows the word. 
These are the ones beside the path, where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word sown in them. 
In the same way, these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy, 
but have no root in themselves and last only a little while. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. 
Others are the ones sown among thorns. These are the ones who have heard the word, 
but the worries of the age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 
But those sown on good soil are the ones who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.” 
He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on a lampstand? 
For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, nor has anything been concealed except to come into the open. 
If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.” 
He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you. 
For whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” 
He said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. 
He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he himself does not know how. 
The earth bears fruit of itself: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 
When the crop is ready, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” 
He said, “How shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we describe it? 
It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth. 
Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.” 
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 
He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately he explained everything to his own disciples. 
That day, when evening came, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.” 
Leaving the crowd, they took him with them just as he was in the boat. Other boats were with him. 
A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 
He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 
He awoke, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 
He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 
They were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” 
