Mark 4
4
The Parable of the Sower
1Again # 4:1–12 Mt 13:1–15; Lk 8:4–10 he began to teach # 4:1 Mt 28:20; Ac 4:2; 2Tm 4:11 by the sea, and a very large crowd gathered around him. So he got into a boat on the sea and sat down, while the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore. 2He taught them many things in parables, # 4:2 Mk 12:1 and in his teaching # 4:2 Mk 11:18; Ac 2:42; 17:19 he said to them, 3“Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. # 4:3 Gl 6:7 4As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, # 4:4 Mk 8:27 and the birds came and devoured # 4:4 Gl 5:15 it. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, # 4:5 Mk 10:52 since the soil wasn’t deep. 6When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. # 4:6 Mk 3:1 7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit. 8Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased # 4:8 1Pt 2:2 thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.” # 4:8 Jn 15:5; Col 1:6 9Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.” # 4:9 Is 6:9; Jr 5:21; Ezk 12:2; Mk 8:18; Lk 14:35
Why Jesus Used Parables
10When he was alone, those around him with the Twelve # 4:10 Mk 11:11 asked him about the parables. # 4:10 Mk 12:1 11He answered them, “The secret # 4:11 1Co 2:7 of the kingdom of God # 4:11 Mk 1:15 has been given to you, but to those outside, # 4:11 Rm 9:27 everything comes in parables 12so that
they may indeed look,
and yet not perceive;
they may indeed listen,
and yet not understand; # 4:12 Mk 7:18
otherwise, they might turn back
and be forgiven.” # 4:12 Other mss read and their sins be forgiven them,# 4:12 Is 6:9–10,# 4:12 Is 6:9–10
The Parable of the Sower Explained
13Then # 4:13–20 Mt 13:18–23; Lk 8:9–15 he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? # 4:13 Mk 12:1 How then will you understand all of the parables? 14The sower sows # 4:14 Gl 6:7 the word. # 4:14 Mk 16:20 15Some are like the word sown on the path. # 4:15 Mk 8:27 When they hear, immediately Satan # 4:15 Mt 4:10 comes and takes away the word # 4:15 Lk 6:47 sown in them. # 4:15 Other mss read in their hearts 16And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. # 4:16 Jn 5:43; 15:11 17But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress # 4:17 2Co 1:4 or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away. # 4:17 Jn 16:1 18Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, 19but the worries # 4:19 1Pt 5:7 of this age, # 4:19 Lk 16:8; Eph 1:21 the deceitfulness # 4:19 Or seduction,# 4:19 Mt 13:22 of wealth, # 4:19 Mt 13:22; Lk 8:14 and the desires # 4:19 2Pt 1:4; 2:10 for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. # 4:19 Rm 1:13; Ti 3:14; Jd 12 20And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word, # 4:20 Lk 6:47 welcome it, and produce fruit # 4:20 Col 1:10 thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”
Using Your Light
21He # 4:21–25 Lk 8:16–18 also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? # 4:21 Lk 5:18 Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand? # 4:21 Rv 1:12 22For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, # 4:22 2Co 4:11 and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light. 23If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.” # 4:23 Mk 4:9 24And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure # 4:24 2Co 10:13 you use, # 4:24 Mt 7:2; Lk 6:38 it will be measured to you — and more will be added # 4:24 Lk 17:5 to you. 25For whoever has, more will be given to him, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” # 4:25 Mt 25:29; Lk 19:26
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 “The kingdom of God # 4:26 Mk 1:15 is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground. 27He sleeps # 4:27 Mt 9:24 and rises # 4:27 Mk 5:41 night # 4:27 Jn 9:4 and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how. 28The soil produces a crop # 4:28 Col 1:10 by itself — first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain # 4:28 Lk 16:7 on the head. 29As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, # 4:29 Jl 3:13; Rv 14:14–19 because the harvest # 4:29 Rv 14:15 has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30And # 4:30–34 Mt 13:31–35; Lk 13:18–21 he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, # 4:30 Mk 1:15 or what parable # 4:30 Mk 12:1 can we use to describe it? 31It’s like a mustard seed # 4:31 Mt 17:20; Lk 17:6 that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground. 32And when sown, # 4:32 Gl 6:7 it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants, # 4:32 Lk 11:42 and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky # 4:32 Mt 24:35; Lk 12:33; Ac 17:24; Eph 6:9; Rv 21:10 can nest in its shade.”
Using Parables
33He was speaking the word # 4:33 Lk 6:47; Jn 18:32 to them with many parables # 4:33 Mk 12:1 like these, as they were able to understand. # 4:33 Jn 16:12 34He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples. # 4:34 Mt 9:10; Mk 10:10; Lk 6:1; Jn 6:3; Ac 6:1
Wind and Waves Obey Jesus
35On # 4:35–41 Mt 8:23–27; Lk 8:22–25 that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” 36So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. 37A great windstorm # 4:37 Ps 107:25; Jnh 1:5–6 arose, and the waves # 4:37 Jd 13 were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38He was in the stern, sleeping # 4:38 Mt 9:24 on the cushion. So they woke him up # 4:38 Mk 5:41 and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die? ” # 4:38 Jn 6:27
39He got up, rebuked # 4:39 2Tm 4:2 the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! # 4:39 Mt 22:12; Mk 3:4 Be still! ” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? # 4:40 Mt 8:26; Rv 21:8 Do you still have no faith? ”
41And they were terrified # 4:41 Or were filled with awe,# 4:41 Rv 11:11 and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey # 4:41 Mk 1:27 him! ” # 4:41 Jnh 1:10,16; Mk 6:50–51
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Mark 4: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Mark 4
4
Jesus told a story about seeds and ground
1Jesus went down to the lake again, and he started to teach people. A big mob of people went to listen to him, so he got into a boat and sat in it. He was a little bit away from the dry ground. All the people stayed on the dry ground and listened to his words.#Luke 5:1-3 2He told them picture stories to teach them lots of things.
Jesus told them this story. He said, 3“You mob listen to me now. A man wanted to grow some seed food in a garden. 4He threw the seeds all over the garden.
Some seeds went too far and fell on the road. The road was hard, so the seeds couldn’t grow there. Some birds saw those seeds lying there, so they ate them and finished them up.
5-6And some seeds went another way. They fell on ground that had too much rock in it. Those seeds grew up really fast, but they had too much rock and only a little bit of ground, so when the sun got hot, they dried up and died.
7Some other seeds fell into the rubbish grass that was growing right next to the garden. Those seeds tried to grow, but the rubbish grass blocked them, so they couldn’t grow properly. They didn’t grow any new seeds on them.
8But some of those seeds fell on really good ground, and those seeds grew properly and became seed food plants. When they were ready, they had really big mobs of new seeds on them.”
9Then Jesus said, “You’ve got ears, so you have to listen to me properly, and take notice of my words.”
Jesus told stories to teach people
10Some time later, Jesus came away from that big mob of people. Then just his 12 special workers and a few other people sat around him. They said to him, “You tell us picture stories, but we can’t understand them. What are your stories all about?”
11Jesus said, “You mob follow me, so God wants you to know what my stories are all about, so I will tell you what they mean. Those stories are about how God gets people into his family. But other people don’t follow me, so they only get the picture stories. I will not tell them what they mean. 12You know, God got one of his men to write these words, and they are in God’s book. He wrote,
‘People will look with their eyes at what I do, but they will not try to understand what it means.
They will hear my words with their ears, but they will not try to understand them properly.
If they do understand me properly, then they will turn around and come back to God, and then God will not blame them for the bad things they did. But they don’t want to know about that.’
And those things are happening now.”#Isaiah 6:9-10
This is what the story about seeds and ground means
13Jesus kept on talking. He said, “Why can’t you understand this picture story? If you can’t understand this easy story, you will not understand the other stories that I’m going to tell you.
14Listen to me again. In my story, a man threw the seeds into his garden, to grow some food. He is a picture of somebody that tells God’s word to people.
15I said that some seeds fell on the road, and birds ate them up. Those seeds are a picture for God’s word, and the birds are a picture of Satan, the boss over the bad spirits. When some people hear God’s word, Satan makes them forget it, so they take no notice of its message.
16In my story there was ground with too much rock in it. That is a picture of people that listen to God’s word and they are happy about it, and they start to take notice of it. 17But other people see them believing that word, and those other people make trouble for them, so they stop taking notice of God’s word. They soon turn their back and walk away from it.
18In my story the man threw some seeds into rubbish grass, and that grass blocked them, so they couldn’t grow. That is a picture of people that hear God’s word, 19but after that, they let other things stop them, so they don’t live properly for God. They worry too much about the things they want in this life. They start to think too much about money, and they trick themselves. They want a lot of different things all the time, and they worry too much about all those things. They just think about what they want for themselves, and that stops them listening properly to God’s word, so they can’t live properly for God.
20In my story, the seeds that fell on the good ground grew properly, and after those plants grew up big, they made lots of new seeds. That is a picture of people that are ready to listen to God’s word, and do what he says. When they believe God’s word, they grow stronger and stronger for God, and they live God’s way.”
Jesus told a picture story about a light
21Then Jesus said, “When somebody lights a candle, they don’t put it under a bowl. And they don’t put that candle under their bed. No way. People put candles up high, so everyone can see clearly.#Matthew 5:15; Luke 11:33 22Well, just like that, God wants people to understand the things that are true. He will not hide them away. You see, there are some things that God hasn’t told anyone yet, but people will know them soon. It will be like a light will shine on them.#Matthew 10:26; Luke 12:2 23You’ve all got ears, so you have to listen to me properly, and take notice of my words.”
24-25Then Jesus said, “Make sure you listen to the right message and think about it properly. When you really take notice of a true message, God will help you understand it, and he will help you to know more and more of his word. But if you don’t want to listen to that message, God will stop you from understanding the little bit you did hear.”#Matthew 7:2; 13:12; 25:29; Luke 6:38; 19:26
God’s family grows like plants
26-29Jesus kept on teaching. He said, “I want you to know how God’s family grows. This is another picture story. A man wanted to grow some seed food, so he threw some seeds on the ground in his garden. Then that man walked away and left the seeds there. Those seeds grew all by themselves in that ground, and that man didn’t know what made those seeds grow. He just left them there for a few months, and they grew. At first the long stick part grew, and after that, the head part grew with all the seeds inside it. Then, when the seeds were ready, that man cut those plants down and picked up the seed food. God is boss for everyone, and his family will grow just like the plants in that story.”#Joel 3:13
Jesus talked more about God’s family
30Jesus talked some more. He said, “Do you know what God’s family is like? I will tell you another picture story to help you understand it. 31God’s family is like a little seed, like the seed of the plant we call mustard. Its seeds are very little. 32When somebody puts one of those little seeds into the ground, it grows and grows. Later it gets really big with lots of branches. It gets bigger than all the other plants in a vegetable garden, and birds can sit down in the shade of its branches, and they can make their nests there too. Well, that is a picture of how God’s family will grow.”
33Jesus taught the people this way whenever they were ready to listen. 34Whenever he talked to all the people, he used picture stories. But later, when Jesus was sitting down with only his followers, he told them what those stories really mean.
Jesus told the storm to stop and be quiet
35On that same day, while Jesus was teaching, the sun started to go down. He was still sitting in the boat, so he stopped teaching and told his followers to take him across the lake. 36So they left all the other people behind, and his followers started to take him across the lake in their boat. Some other people got into their boats and followed them.
37A little bit later a really strong storm came. The wind got very strong, and the waves started to fill the boat with water, so it was starting to sink. 38Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat with his head on a pillow. His followers were frightened, so they woke him up, and they shouted at him, “Teacher, we will all drown, and you don’t care. Why don’t you do something?”
39Jesus opened his eyes, then he stood up, and he talked strongly to the wind and the water. He said, “Stop. Be quiet.” Straight away, the wind stopped and the water lay down flat. Everything was quiet and still.
40Then Jesus said to his followers, “Why are you so frightened? You should know by now that you can trust me.”
41They said to each other, “Look. The wind and the water listen to this man, and they do what he says. He is really powerful.” So they were really surprised and frightened.
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