Mark 4
4
The Parable of the Sower
1Again #For ver. 1-12, see Matt. 13:1-15; Luke 8:4-10 he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, #[ch. 3:9; Luke 5:1-3]so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2And #ver. 33he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3“Listen! Behold, #[Isa. 55:10; Amos 9:13]a sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6And #James 1:11 when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, #John 15:6it withered away. 7Other seed fell among #Jer. 4:3thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and #ver. 20; Gen. 26:12a hundredfold.” 9And he said, #See Matt. 11:15“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables
10And #ver. 34when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, #Matt. 19:11; Col. 1:27; [1 Cor. 2:6-10; 1 John 2:20, 27]; See Matt. 11:25 “To you has been given #See Rom. 16:25 the secret of the kingdom of God, but for #1 Cor. 5:12, 13; Col. 4:5; 1 Thess. 4:12; 1 Tim. 3:7those outside everything is in parables, 12#Isa. 6:9, 10 so that
“‘they #
Deut. 29:4; Jer. 5:21; Ezek. 12:2; Rom. 11:8; 2 Cor. 3:14; 4:4; [Isa. 42:19, 20] may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they # See Luke 22:32 should turn and be forgiven.’”
13 # For ver. 13-20, see Matt. 13:18-23; Luke 8:11-15 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14#[Matt. 13:37; John 4:36, 37] The sower sows #ver. 33; ch. 2:2; Luke 1:2; Acts 8:4; James 1:21the word. 15And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it #[ch. 6:20; Isa. 58:2; Ezek. 33:31, 32; John 5:35]with joy. 17And they have no root in themselves, but #Gal. 1:6; [Hos. 6:4; Gal. 5:7] endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately #See Matt. 11:6they fall away.#4:17 Or stumble 18And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19but #See Matt. 6:25 the cares of #2 Tim. 4:10 the world and #1 Tim. 6:9, 10, 17; [ch. 10:23; Matt. 19:23; Acts 5:1-11; Heb. 3:13]the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and #Hos. 14:8; John 15:5, 16; Phil. 1:11; Col. 1:6 bear fruit, #ver. 8thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
A Lamp Under a Basket
21 # For ver. 21-25, see Luke 8:16-18 And he said to them, #Matt. 5:15; Luke 11:33“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22#Matt. 10:26; Luke 12:2; [1 Tim. 5:25]For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23#ver. 9If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: #Matt. 7:2; Luke 6:38with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25#See Matt. 13:12For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
The Parable of the Seed Growing
26And he said, #[Matt. 13:24-30]“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; #[Eccles. 11:5, 6]he knows not how. 28The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once #Joel 3:13; Rev. 14:15he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 # For ver. 30-32, see Matt. 13:31, 32; Luke 13:18, 19 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31It is like #Matt. 17:20; Luke 17:6a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32yet 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 air can make nests in its shade.”
33 #
Matt. 13:34 With many such parables he spoke #See ver. 14 the word to them, #John 16:12; 1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12as they were able to hear it. 34He did not speak to them #[John 16:25] without a parable, but #ver. 10; [ch. 13:3] privately to his own disciples he #[2 Pet. 1:20]explained everything.
Jesus Calms a Storm
35 # For ver. 35-41, see Matt. 8:18, 23-27; Luke 8:22-25; [John 6:16-21] On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves #[Acts 27:14]were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39And he awoke and #Ps. 104:7; [Luke 4:39] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and #Job 38:11; Ps. 65:7; [ch. 6:51; Matt. 14:32]there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you #John 14:27so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, #[ch. 1:27] “Who then is this, that even #[Luke 5:9]the wind and the sea obey him?”
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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Mark 4
4
1Jesus began teaching beside the Sea again. So many people came to listen to him that he climbed into a boat and sat in it on the water while the crowd listened from the shore. 2He illustrated his teachings using many stories.
3“Listen,” he said. “A sower went out to sow. 4Now as he was scattering the seeds, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate them up. 5Other seeds fell on stony ground where there wasn't much earth. In the shallow soil the plants started growing quickly, but because the soil wasn't deep 6they were scorched when the sun came up. Since they didn't have any real roots, they soon withered. 7Other seeds fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked the sprouting seeds, so they produced nothing. 8Other seeds fell on good soil where they sprouted and grew. They produced a harvest of some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred times what was planted. 9If you have ears to hear, listen to what I'm saying.”
10When he was by himself, his twelve disciples and the others who were with him asked him what the illustrations meant.
11He told them, “The mystery of God's kingdom has been given to you to understand. But outsiders only have the stories, 12so that even though they see, they don't really ‘see,’ and even though they hear, they don't understand, otherwise they might turn to me and be forgiven.”#4:12. Quoting Isaiah 6:9-10.
13“Don't you understand this story?” Jesus asked them. “If you can't, how are you going to understand all the other stories?
14The sower sows the word.#4:14. Word—or “message,” the Word of God that Jesus came to bring. (See also John 1:1.) 15The seeds on the path where the word is sown illustrate those who hear the message, but then Satan immediately comes along and takes away the word that's been sown in them. 16Likewise the seeds on the rocky ground illustrate those who hear the word, and happily accept it right away. 17But since they have no real roots, they only last for a while until trouble or persecution comes, and then they quickly fall away. 18Those sown among the thorns illustrate those who hear the word, 19but worries of this world, the temptation of wealth, and other distractions choke the growth of the word, and it becomes unproductive. 20But the seeds sown on good soil illustrate those who hear the word, accept it, and are productive—producing thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was originally sown.
21Who puts a lamp under a bucket, or beneath a bed?” Jesus asked them. “No, you put a lamp up on a lamp-stand. 22Everything that is hidden will be revealed, and everything that is secret will be brought out into the open. 23If you have ears to hear, listen to what I'm saying! 24Pay attention to what you're hearing,” he told them, “for you will be given according to how much you want to receive, measure for measure. 25More will be given to those who already have understanding, but those who don't want to know will have what little understanding they have taken from them.
26God's kingdom is like a man sowing seed in the ground,” Jesus said. 27“He goes to bed and gets up, day after day, but the man has no knowledge of how the seeds sprout and grow. 28The earth produces a harvest by itself. First a shoot appears, then the heads of grain, and then the heads of grain ripen. 29When the grain is ripe, the farmer reaps it with a sickle, because the harvest is ready.#4:29. Possibly a reference to Joel 3:13.
30What can we compare God's kingdom to? What illustration shall we use?” he asked. 31“It's like a mustard seed, the tiniest seed of all. 32But when it's sown it grows into a plant that's larger than other plants. It has branches big enough that birds can roost in its shade.”
33Jesus used many of these illustrated stories when he spoke to the people so they would understand as much as they could. 34In fact, when he spoke publicly, he only used stories; however in private he explained everything to his disciples.
35Later that day, in the evening, he said to his disciples, “Let's go across to the other side of the Sea.” 36Leaving the crowd behind, the disciples went with Jesus, just as he was, and got into a boat. Other boats went with them. 37Soon a terrible storm started blowing, and waves crashed against the boat, filling it with water. 38Jesus was asleep in the stern, resting his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting at him, “Teacher, don't you care that we're about to drown?”
39Jesus woke up. He told the wind to die down and told the waves, “Be quiet! Be still.” The wind stopped, and the water became completely calm. 40“Why are you so frightened?#4:40. The word used is for cowards. Haven't you learned to trust me?” he asked them.
41They were stunned and terrified.#4:41. Although the aspect of fear is usually brought out in translations, the text indicates that they had been frightened previously. Now they were amazed, in awe at what had happened, though no doubt still terrified. They asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com