The Parable of the Sower

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, 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 he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:³“Listen! Behold, 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 when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.⁷Other seed fell among thorns, 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 a hundredfold.”⁹And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables,¹² so that

“they may indeed see but not perceive,

and may indeed hear but not understand,

lest they should turn and be forgiven.”

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?¹⁴ The sower sows the 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 with joy.¹⁷And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word,¹⁹but the cares of the world and 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 bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”