Mark 4 - Amplified Bible(AMP)

Parable of the Sower and Soils

1Again Jesus began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered around Him, so He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore.

2And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them,

3“Listen! A sower went out to sow seed;

4and as he was sowing, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

5Other seed fell on rocks where there was not much soil; and immediately a plant sprang up

because the soil had no depth.

6And when the sun came up, the plant was scorched; and because it had no root, it dried up and withered away.

7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

8And other seed fell into good soil, and as the plants grew and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times.”

9And He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”

10As soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, together with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.

11He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but those who are outside get everything in parables,

12so that they will continually look but not see, and they will continually hear but not understand, otherwise they might turn

and be forgiven.”

Explanation

13Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand and grasp the meaning of all the parables?

14The sower sows the word.

15These are the ones along the road where the word is sown; but when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

16In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;

17and they have no real root in themselves, so they endure only for a little while; then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they stumble and fall away.

18And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,

19but the worries and cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of wealth, and the passionate desires for all the other things creep in and choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

20And 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 hundred times as much.”

21He said to them, “A lamp is not brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Is it not to be put on the lampstand?

22For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been kept secret, but that it would come to light.

23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”

24Then He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By your own standard of measurement it will be measured to you—and more will be given to you besides.

25For

whoever has, to him more

will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

Parable of the Seed

26Then He said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who throws seed on the ground;

27and he goes to bed at night and gets up every day, and the seed sprouts and grows; how, he does not know.

28The earth produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

29But when the crop ripens, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

30And He said, “How shall we

picture the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use to illustrate and explain it?

31It is like a mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the ground, even though it is

smaller than all the seeds that are on the soil,

32yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden herbs; and it puts out large branches, so that the birds of the sky are able to make nests and live under its shade.”

33With many such parables, Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear and understand it;

34and He did not say anything to them without a parable; He did, however, explain everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

35On that day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”

36So leaving the crowd, they took Him with them, just as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him.

37And a fierce windstorm began to blow, and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already being swamped.

38But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are about to die?”

39And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down and there was a great calm.

40Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith and confidence?”

41They were filled with great fear, and said to each other, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”