4:1 Again Jesus began to teach beside Lake Galilee. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it. The boat was out in the water, and the crowd stood on the shore at the water's edge.
4:2 He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them:
4:3 “Listen! Once there was a man who went out to sow grain.
4:4 As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
4:5 Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep.
4:6 Then, when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up.
4:7 Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants, and they didn't bear grain.
4:8 But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and bore grain: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others one hundred.”
4:9 And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!”
4:10 When Jesus was alone, some of those who had heard him came to him with the twelve disciples and asked him to explain the parables.
4:11 “You have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God,” Jesus answered. “But the others, who are on the outside, hear all things by means of parables,
4:12 so that, ‘They may look and look, yet not see; they may listen and listen, yet not understand. For if they did, they would turn to God, and he would forgive them.’”
4:13 Then Jesus asked them, “Don't you understand this parable? How, then, will you ever understand any parable?
4:15 Some people are like the seeds that fall along the path; as soon as they hear the message, Satan comes and takes it away.
4:16 Other people are like the seeds that fall on rocky ground. As soon as they hear the message, they receive it gladly.
4:17 But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.
4:18 Other people are like the seeds sown among the thorn bushes. These are the ones who hear the message,
4:19 but the worries about this life, the love for riches, and all other kinds of desires crowd in and choke the message, and they don't bear fruit.
4:20 But other people are like seeds sown in good soil. They hear the message, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred.”
4:21 Jesus continued, “Does anyone ever bring in a lamp and put it under a bowl or under the bed? Isn't it put on the lampstand?
4:22 Whatever is hidden away will be brought out into the open, and whatever is covered up will be uncovered.
4:24 He also said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear! The same rules you use to judge others will be used by God to judge you—but with even greater severity.
4:25 Those who have something will be given more, and those who have nothing will have taken away from them even the little they have.”
4:26 Jesus went on to say, “The Kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed in his field.
4:27 He sleeps at night, is up and about during the day, and all the while the seeds are sprouting and growing. Yet he does not know how it happens.
4:28 The soil itself makes the plants grow and bear fruit; first the tender stalk appears, then the head, and finally the head full of grain.
4:29 When the grain is ripe, the man starts cutting it with his sickle, because harvest time has come.
4:30 “What shall we say the Kingdom of God is like?” asked Jesus. “What parable shall we use to explain it?
4:31 It is like this. A man takes a mustard seed, the smallest seed in the world, and plants it in the ground.
4:32 After a while it grows up and becomes the biggest of all plants. It puts out such large branches that the birds come and make their nests in its shade.”
4:33 Jesus preached his message to the people, using many other parables like these; he told them as much as they could understand.
4:34 He would not speak to them without using parables, but when he was alone with his disciples, he would explain everything to them.
4:35 On the evening of that same day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.”
4:36 So they left the crowd; the disciples got into the boat in which Jesus was already sitting, and they took him with them. Other boats were there too.
4:37 Suddenly a strong wind blew up, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water.
4:38 Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said, “Teacher, don't you care that we are about to die?”
4:39 Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, “Be quiet!” and he said to the waves, “Be still!” The wind died down, and there was a great calm.
4:40 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Why are you frightened? Do you still have no faith?”
4:41 But they were terribly afraid and began to say to one another, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
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