'Seed' in the Bible

As he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and the birds come and peck it up.

When a man hears the Message concerning the Kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil one comes and catches away what has been sown in his heart. This is he who has received the seed by the road-side.

He who has received the seed on the rocky ground is the man who hears the Message and immediately receives it with joy.

He who has received the seed among the thorns is the man who hears the Message, but the cares of the present age and the delusions of riches quite stifle the Message, and it becomes unfruitful.

But he who has received the seed on good ground is he who hears and understands. Such hearers give a return, and yield one a hundred for one, another sixty, another thirty.")

Another parable He put before them. "The Kingdom of the Heavens," He said, "may be compared to a man who has sown good seed in his field,

but during the night his enemy comes, and over the first seed he sows darnel among the wheat, and goes away.

"So the farmer's men come and ask him, "'Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed on your land? Where then does the darnel come from?'

"The sower of the good seed," He replied, "is the Son of Man;

the field is the world; the good seed--these are the sons of the Kingdom; the darnel, the sons of the Evil one.

As he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and the birds come and peck it up.

But some of the seed falls into good ground, and gives a return: it comes up and increases, and yields thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold."

Those who receive the seed by the way-side are those in whom the Message is sown, but, when they have heard it, Satan comes at once and carries away the Message sown in them.

In the same way those who receive the seed on the rocky places are those who, when they have heard the Message, at once accept it joyfully,

Others there are who receive the seed among the thorns: these are they who have heard the Message,

Those, on the other hand, who have received the seed on the good ground, are all who hear the Message and welcome it, and yield a return of thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold."

Another saying of His was this: "The Kingdom of God is as if a man scattered seed over the ground:

he spends days and nights, now awake, now asleep, while the seed sprouts and grows tall, he knows not how.

"The sower," He said, "goes out to sow his seed; and as he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and is trodden upon, or the birds of the air come and peck it up.

But some of the seed falls into good ground, and grows up and yields a return of a hundred for one." While thus speaking, He cried aloud and said, "Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!"

The meaning of the parable is as follows. The seed is God's Message.

It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil in his garden, and it grows and becomes a tree in whose branches the birds roost."

"If your faith," replied the Lord, "is like a mustard seed, you might command this black-mulberry-tree, 'Tear up your roots and plant yourself in the sea,' and instantly it would obey you.

Foolish man! the seed you yourself sow has no life given to it unless it first dies;

and to each kind of seed a body of its own.

And God who continually supplies seed for the sower and bread for eating, will supply you with seed and multiply it, and will cause your almsgiving to yield a plentiful harvest.

(Now the promises were given to Abraham and to his seed. God did not say 'and to seeds,' as if speaking of many, but 'and to your seed,' since He spoke of only one--and this is Christ.)

Why then was the Law given? It was imposed later on for the sake of defining sin, until the seed should come to whom God had made the promise; and its details were laid down by a mediator with the help of angels.

And peace, for those who strive for peace, is the seed of which the harvest is righteousness.