Mark 4 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021(NRSVUE)

Mark 4The Parable of the Sower

1 of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables,

12

18And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word,

19but the cares of the age and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.

20And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket

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

22Mt 10.26; Lk 8.17; 12.2For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

23Mt 11.15If you have ears to hear, then hear!”

24Mt 7.2; Lk 6.38And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and it will be added to you.

25Mt 13.12; 25.29; Lk 8.18; 19.26For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Growing Seed

26 Mt 13.24 He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground

27and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.

28The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

29Rev 14.15But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 Mt 13.24 He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?

31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth,

32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Use of Parables

33 Jn 16.12 With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it;

34Mt 13.34; Jn 16.25he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Jesus Stills a Storm

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

36Mk 5.2, 21And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.

37A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

39And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

40Mt 14.31, 32; Mk 16.14He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”

41And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”