Parable of the Sower and Soils

4 Again ^(A)He began to teach ^(B)by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^(C)He got into a boat on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ² And He was teaching them many things in ^(D)parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³ “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. ⁸ Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.” ⁹ And He was saying, “^(E)He who has ears to hear, ^[a]let him hear.”

¹⁰ As soon as He was alone, ^[b]His followers, along with the twelve disciples, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹ And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for ^(F)those who are outside, everything comes ^(G)in parables, ¹² so that ^(H)while seeing they may see, and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear, and not understand, otherwise they might return and it would be forgiven them.”

Explanation of the Parable

^13 (I)And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately ^(J)Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶ And in a similar way these are the ones sown with seed on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and yet they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately they ^[c]fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown with seed among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of ^(K)the ^[d]world, and the ^(L)deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it ^[e]becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ And those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and ^(M)bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much.”

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(N)A lamp is not brought to be put under a ^[f]basket, or under a bed, is it? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (O)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (P)If anyone has ears to hear, ^[g]let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. ^[h](Q)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ^25 (R)For 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

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ Now when the crop permits, he immediately ^[i](S)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (T)And He was saying, “How shall we ^[j](U)picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is the smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that ^(V)the birds of the sky can nest under its shade.”

³³ And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to ^[k]understand it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them ^(W)without a parable; but He was ^(X)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

^35 (Y)On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” ³⁶ After dismissing the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^(Z)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And a fierce gale of wind *developed, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling with water. ³⁸ And yet Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He got up and ^(AA)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and ^[l]it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you ^[m]afraid? ^(AB)Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

The Lost Sheep

15 Now all the ^(A)tax collectors and ^[a]sinners were coming near ^[b]Jesus to listen to Him. ² And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, “This man receives sinners and ^(B)eats with them.”

³ And so He told them this parable, saying, ⁴ “^(C)What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the other ninety-nine in the ^[c]open pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

The Lost Coin

⁸ “Or what woman, if she has ten ^[d]silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the coin which I had lost!’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy ^(D)in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Prodigal Son

¹¹ And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me ^(E)the share of the estate that ^[e]is coming to me.’ And so he divided his ^[f](F)wealth between them. ¹³ And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his estate in ^[g]wild living. ¹⁴ Now when he had ^[h]spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began doing without. ¹⁵ So he went and ^[i]hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ And he longed to have his fill of the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving him anything. ¹⁷ But when he came to ^[j]his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying here ^[k]from hunger! ¹⁸ I will set out and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and ^[l]in your sight; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired laborers.”’ ²⁰ So he set out and came to ^[m]his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and ^[n](G)embraced him and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and ^[o]in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out ^(H)the best robe and put it on him, and ^[p](I)put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let’s eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was ^(J)dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. ²⁹ But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never ^[q]neglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; ³⁰ but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your ^[r](K)wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you ^[s]have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was ^(L)dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”