Mark 4
4
The Parable of the Sower
Matt. 13:1-9; Lk. 8:4-8
1 And again He began to teach by the sea, and a very large crowd was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat on the sea and sat down, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 Then He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching:
3 “Listen! Behold, the sower * went out to sow. 4 And it occurred that, as he was sowing, some seed * fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 And other fell on the rocky place, where it did not have much soil; and at once it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And other fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 And others fell into the good soil and yielded a crop, growing up and increasing, with some bearing thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred times as much.” * 9 Then He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables
Matt. 13:10-17; Lk. 8:9-10
10 And when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve began to ask Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you, the mystery of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those who are outside, everything is in parables, 12 so that ‘while seeing, they may see, but not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear, but not understand, lest they should turn and it would be forgiven them.’ ”
The Explanation of the Parable of the Sower
Matt. 13:18-23; Lk. 8:11-15
13 Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower * sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path where the word is sown—and when they hear it, Satan at once comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16 And likewise, these are the ones sown on the rocky places—who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, 17 but they have no root in themselves, and are momentary. Then when affliction or persecution comes on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among the thorns—these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things * come in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. 20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil—who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred times as much.”
A Lamp Under a Basket
Lk. 8:16-18
21 And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought so that it may be put under a basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not to be put on a lampstand? 22 For nothing is concealed except to be made manifest, nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And He was saying to them, “Give careful consideration to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you. * 25 For whoever has, more will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.”
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 And He was saying, “Thus is the kingdom of God: It is like a man who scatters seed on the soil, 27 then sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—he himself does not know how. 28 By itself the soil produces crops—first the stalk, then the head of grain, then the full grain in the head. 29 Now when the crop permits, * he immediately sends * in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Matt. 13:31-32; Lk. 13:18-19
30 And He was saying, “With what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard, which, when sown on the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds that are on the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, so that the birds of the sky are able to find shelter beneath its shade.”
The Use of Parables
Matt. 13:34-35
33 And with many parables such as these, He kept speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34 And He would not speak to them without a parable; but in private, He would explain everything to His own disciples.
The Calming of a Great Storm
Matt. 8:23-27; Lk. 8:22-25
35 And on that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 And having dismissed the crowd, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him. 37 And a great storm of wind arose, with the waves breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion, and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, is it not a matter of concern to You that we are perishing?” 39 So He got up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” And the wind ceased raging, and there was a great calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you timid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 And they were extremely afraid,* and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Notes
3 Greek the one who sows. So also v. 14
4 The word seed is supplied to the text on contextual grounds for the purpose of clarification
8 Greek and some a hundred. So also v. 20
19 Some ancient manuscripts omit and the desires for other things
24 Some ancient manuscripts omit and more will be added to you , in order to conform the reading to a parallel construction in Lk. 8:18
29 Or ripens
29 Or puts
41 Greek And they were afraid with great fear
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
