48 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
48 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 4
|
||
1 Again he began to teach 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.
|
||
2 He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them,
|
||
3 “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow.
|
||
4 As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
|
||
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly, since the soil wasn’t deep.
|
||
6 When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.
|
||
7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce fruit.
|
||
8 Still other seed fell on good ground and it grew up, producing fruit that increased thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”
|
||
9 Then he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
|
||
10 When he was alone, those around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables.
|
||
11 He answered them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those outside, everything comes in parables
|
||
12 so that
|
||
they may indeed look,
|
||
and yet not perceive;
|
||
they may indeed listen,
|
||
and yet not understand;
|
||
otherwise, they might turn back
|
||
and be forgiven.”
|
||
13 Then he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand all of the parables?
|
||
14 The sower sows the word.
|
||
15 Some are like the word sown on the path. When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them.
|
||
16 And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.
|
||
17 But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.
|
||
18 Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word,
|
||
19 but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
|
||
20 And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word, welcome it, and produce fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”
|
||
21 He also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it to be put on a lampstand?
|
||
22 For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light.
|
||
23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.”
|
||
24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By 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 what he has will be taken away from him.”
|
||
26 “The kingdom of God is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground.
|
||
27 He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how.
|
||
28 The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain on the head.
|
||
29 As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
|
||
30 And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to describe it?
|
||
31 It’s like a mustard seed that, when sown upon the soil, is the smallest of all the seeds on the ground.
|
||
32 And when sown, it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants, and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.”
|
||
33 He was speaking the word to them with many parables like these, as they were able to understand.
|
||
34 He did not speak to them without a parable. Privately, however, he explained everything to his own disciples.
|
||
35 On that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.”
|
||
36 So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him.
|
||
37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.
|
||
38 He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?”
|
||
39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
|
||
40 Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
|
||
41 And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” |