The Sower and the Soils

1And again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathers to him, so that he got into a boat and sat on the sea, and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land.

2And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he was saying to them:

3Listen! Behold, the sower went out to sow.

4And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

5And other seed fell on the rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up at once because it had no depth of soil.

6And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered.

7And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

8And other seed fell into the good soil, and it was producing fruit, growing up and increasing, and bearing thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.

9And he was saying, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10And when he was alone, those around him with the Twelve were asking him about the parables.

11And he was saying to them, “To you the mystery of the kingdom of God has been given, but to those outside everything comes in parables,”

12so that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they turn back and it be forgiven them.

13And he says to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?”

14The sower sows the word.

15And these are the ones along the road where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

16And these are likewise the ones sown on the rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy,

17and they have no root in themselves, but are temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, they immediately fall away.

18And others are those sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,

19and the cares of the age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

20And those are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and receive it and bear fruit—thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.