Parable of the Sower and Soils

¹He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.²And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,³“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;⁴as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.⁵“Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil.⁶“And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.⁷“Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.⁸“Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”⁹And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.¹¹And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,¹²so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”

Explanation

¹³And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?¹⁴“The sower sows the word.¹⁵“These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.¹⁶“In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;¹⁷and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.¹⁸“And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,¹⁹but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.²⁰“And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”