The Parable of the Sower

  1: He began to teach again by the
       sea And such a very large crowd gathered
       to Him that He got into a boat in 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 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 after 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 hundredfold."
  9: And He was saying, " He who has ears
       to hear, let him hear."
10: As soon as He was alone, His followers,
       along with the twelve, 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 those who are outside get
       everything in parables,
12: so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE
       AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY
       MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE
       THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."
13: 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 Satan comes
       and takes away the word which has been
       sown in them.
16: "In a similar way these are the ones
       on whom seed was sown on the rocky places,
       who, when they hear the word, immediately
       receive it with joy;
17: and they have no firm root in themselves,
       but are only temporary; then, when affliction
       or persecution arises because of the word,
       immediately they fall away.
18: "And others are the ones on whom seed
       was sown among the thorns; these are the
       ones who have heard the word,
19: but the worries of the world, and
       the deceitfulness of riches, and the
       desires for other things enter in and
       choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20: "And those are the ones on whom seed
       was sown on the good soil; and they hear
       the word and accept it and bear fruit,
       thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."