The Parable of the Sower Explained

13 Then(A) he said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable?(B) How then will you understand all of the parables? 14 The sower sows(C) the word.(D) 15 Some are like the word sown on the path.(E) When they hear, immediately Satan(F) comes and takes away the word(G) sown in them.[a] 16 And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.(H) 17 But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress(I) or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.(J) 18 Others are like seed sown among thorns; these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the worries(K) of this age,(L) the deceitfulness[b](M) of wealth,(N) and the desires(O) for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.(P) 20 And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word,(Q) welcome it, and produce fruit(R) thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”

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Footnotes

  1. 4:15 Other mss read in their hearts
  2. 4:19 Or seduction

The Parable of the Sower Explained

11 “This is the meaning of the parable:(A) The seed is the word of God.(B) 12 The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.(C) 14 As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life,(D) and produce no mature fruit. 15 But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring,(E) produce fruit.

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