Mark (Mrk) 4
4
1Again Yeshua began to teach by the lake, but the crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the crowd remained on shore at the water’s edge. 2He taught them many things in parables. In the course of his teaching, he said to them: 3“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and the birds came and ate it up. 5Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow; 6but when the sun rose, the young plants were scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked it; so that it yielded no grain. 8But other seed fell into rich soil and produced grain; it sprouted, and grew, and yielded a crop — thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown.” 9And he concluded, “Whoever has ears to hear with, let him hear!”
10When Yeshua was alone, the people around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. 11He answered them, “To you the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given; but to those outside, everything is in parables, 12so that
they may be always looking but never seeing;
always listening but never understanding.
Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven!”
13Then Yeshua said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you be able to understand any parable? 14The sower sows the message. 15Those alongside the path where the message is sown are people who no sooner hear it than the Adversary comes and takes away the message sown in them. 16Likewise, those receiving seed on rocky patches are people who hear the message and joyfully accept it at once; 17but they have no root in themselves. So they hold out for a while, but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the message, they immediately fall away. 18Others are those sown among thorns — they hear the message; 19but the worries of the world, the deceitful glamor of wealth and all the other kinds of desires push in and choke the message; so that it produces nothing. 20But those sown on rich soil hear the message, accept it and bear fruit — thirty, sixty or a hundredfold.”
21He said to them, “A lamp isn’t brought in to be put under a bowl or under the bed, is it? Wouldn’t you put it on a lampstand? 22Indeed, nothing is hidden, except to be disclosed; and nothing is covered up, except to come out into the open. 23Those who have ears to hear with, let them hear!”
24He also said to them, “Pay attention to what you are hearing! The measure with which you measure out will be used to measure to you — and more besides! 25For anyone who has something will be given more; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he does have will be taken away.”
26And he said, “The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. 27Nights he sleeps, days he’s awake; and meanwhile the seeds sprout and grow — how, he doesn’t know. 28By itself the soil produces a crop — first the stalk, then the head, and finally the full grain in the head. 29But as soon as the crop is ready, the man comes with his sickle, because it’s harvest-time.”
30Yeshua also said, “With what can we compare the Kingdom of God? What illustration should we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when planted, is the smallest of all the seeds in the field; 32but after it has been planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all the plants, with such big branches that the birds flying about can build nests in its shade.”
33With many parables like these he spoke the message to them, to the extent that they were capable of hearing it. 34He did not say a thing to them without using a parable; when he was alone with his own talmidim he explained everything to them.
35That day, when evening had come, Yeshua said to them, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36So, leaving the crowd behind, they took him just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. 37A furious windstorm arose, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was close to being swamped. 38But he was in the stern on a cushion, asleep. They woke him and said to him, “Rabbi, doesn’t it matter to you that we’re about to be killed?” 39He awoke, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind subsided, and there was a dead calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you no trust even now?” 41But they were terrified and asked each other, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”
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Mark (Mrk) 4: CJB
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