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THE SEED AND THE SOILS, with a GRAPHIC DISPLAY of its STRUCTURE: ABOUT SEEDS
People were continually coming to Jesus from different towns. After very many gathered Jesus told them this story.*
“Listen! A man went to scatter seed on his land, they will become food for (making) flour for him. Some of his seeds after being scattered fell on the path. People were treading on them with their feet, the birds ate them all.
Some of his seeds fell on stony ground. There was no water there. After they came up they soon became withered.
Some of his seeds fell in prickle bushes†. The prickle bushes and the seeds came up together, the prickle bushes became big ahead of the seeds, they covered them, the prickle bushes choked them, the seeds became nothing for him.'
Some of his seeds fell on good ground. They came up very well, they became big truly, they became very much food for that man.
Listen with your minds!‡”
After that his men asked Jesus, “Why did you tell that story What are you telling us (excl.) using that story§?”
He told them, “Previously everyone was remaining ignorant about how to become God's people and how to do according to his word. Now I am teaching you, you will understand well about his word. These other people are unsuccessfully hearing about God. They look continually, they are not able to see, they hear continually, they are not able to understand. Because of that I am telling them with stories like these, I am teaching them with this kind of story.
I will explain this word to you. *
(Main symbols explained) That seed is like God's word. [Those different soils are like different people.]
Story, Part 1: Some seeds fell on the path after being thrown down. [Birds ate them all.]
Implicit info made explicit — Metaphors explained: With that word I am telling you this:
Those birds will remind you of the [or an] Evil Spirit
That path will remind you of some people.
Meaning in Real Life: Some people will hear God's word. The Evil Spirit will pressure them to forget that word (lit. 'pressure them they will forget...').
That word will become nothing for them. Because of that they will not believe in God, they will not do in accordance with God's word.
Story, Part 2: Some seeds fell on stony ground. [After coming up they became withered, they did not produce (lit. 'did not become') food.]
Implicit info made explicit — Metaphor explained: With that word I am telling you this:
That stony ground will remind you of some people.
Meaning in Real Life:
Some people will hear God's word with gladness. For a short time only they will believe in him. After that others will make it hard† for them. Then they will go in a different direction, they will not follow God, they will not do in accordance with God's word.
Story, Part 3: Some seeds fell in the prickle bushes. [The prickle bushes choked them.] Implicit info made explicit — Metaphor explained:
With that word I am telling you this: Those prickle bushes will remind you of some people.
Meaning in Real Life:
Some people will hear God's word. They will continually want to be happy. All sorts of things they will continually think about‡, money and food and belongings. After that soon it will become nothing for them to listen to God. They will not do in accordance with God's word.
Story, Part 4: Some seeds fell on good ground. [They became very much food.] Implicit info made explicit
Metaphor explained:
With that word I am telling you this: That good ground will remind you of some people.
Meaning in Real Life: Some people will hear God's word, they will keep it well, continually they will do in accordance with that word, they will please God continually.”
* 12: For ease of reading, the story in Nyangumarta is indented. Square brackets in this next section = information from (Luke's account of) the story as told by Jesus to the crowd. It was not repeated by Jesus in his explanation of the story to the disciples; but is repeated here by us as part of Jesus' explanation to the disciples, in the Nyangumarta text, so as not to confuse our Nyangumarta hearers, who do not know what parables are, and are not expecting this to be one. The Nyangumarta text does not include the structure-headings, such as “Story, Part..:”, “Implicit Info made Explicit–Metaphors explained”, “Meaning in real life”; nor does it include the actual square brackets themselves, only the text within them. These aids are merely included here so that you can see what function each part of the Nyangumarta text is playing, in what is perhaps one of the hardest of Jesus' parables to translate for any Aboriginal audience. † 12: Soft Roleypoley (Salsola kali), is the only appropriate prickly plant in the Pilbara to use in this context, but it is very appropriate, being a very efficient “choker”. (Other potential “chokers” are much slower growers). It grows in many other parts of the continent, probably including the Red Centre, so it may well feature in other teams' translations also? ‡ 12: Literally, 'Listen with your ear-hole', a common way of saying, “Listen, and think about this!” § 12: Muwarr can mean 'language, story, speech, message, word, sentence, utterance of any kind'; context determines which is meant. * 12: [(1) For ease of reading, the story in Nyangumarta is indented. Square brackets in this next section = information from (Luke's account of) the story as told by Jesus to the crowd. It was not repeated by Jesus in his explanation of the story to the disciples; but is repeated here by us as part of Jesus' explanation to the disciples, in the Nyangumarta text, so as not to confuse our Nyangumarta hearers, who do not know what parables are, and are not expecting this to be one. (2) The Nyangumarta text does not include the structure-headings, such as “Story, Part..:”, “Implicit Info made Explicit–Metaphors explained”, “Meaning in real life”; nor does it include the actual square brackets themselves, only the text within them. These aids are merely included here so that you can see what function each part of the Nyangumarta text isplaying, in what is perhaps one of the hardest of Jesus' parables to translate for any Aboriginal audience.] † 12: Literal word for hard/solid is used here, with extended abstract meaning as in English. We're not sure if this was original, or has come in from English. Expressions in Nyangu-marta like 'make it bad for them' seem to confuse. ‡ 12: Literally, 'will put in their ear'.