Mark 4

¹And again he was teaching by the seaside. And a very great number of people had come to him, so that he got into a boat on the sea and took his seat; and all the people were on the land by the seaside.

²And he gave them teaching about a number of things in the form of stories, and said to them in his teaching, Give ear:

³A man went out to put seed in the earth:

⁴And while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took it for food.

⁵And some went on the stones, where it had not much earth; and it came up straight away, because the earth was not deep:

⁶And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root, it became dry and dead.

⁷And some went among the thorns, and the thorns came up, and it had no room for growth and gave no fruit.

⁸And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, coming up and increasing, and giving thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.

⁹And he said to them, Whoever has ears, let him give ear.

¹⁰And when he was by himself, those who were round him with the twelve put questions to him about the purpose of the stories.

¹¹And he said to them, To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are given in the form of stories;

¹²So that seeing they may see, and it will not be clear to them; and hearing it, they will not get the sense; for fear that they may be turned again to me and have forgiveness.