The Parable of the Sower (MRK 4:1-9)

[4:1] Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.

[4:2] And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:

[4:3] “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.

[4:4] And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

[4:5] Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil.

[4:6] And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.

[4:7] Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.

[4:8] And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

[4:9] And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”