1 Once more he proceeded to teach by the seaside, and a crowd gathered round him greater than ever, so he entered a boat on the sea and sat down, while all the crowd stayed on shore.
2 He gave them many lessons in parables, and said to them in the course of his teaching:
3 "Listen, a sower went out to sow,
4 and as he sowed it chanced that some seed fell on the road, and the birds came and ate it up;
5 some other seed fell on stony soil where it had not much earth, and it shot up at once because it had no depth of earth,
6 but when the sun rose it got scorched and withered away, because it had no root;
7 some other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked it, so it bore no crop;
8 some other seed fell on good soil and bore a crop that sprang up and grew, yielding at the rate of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
9 He added, "Anyone who has ears to hear, let him listen to this."
10 When he was by himself his adherents and the twelve asked him about the parable,
11 and he said to them: "The open secret of the Realm of God is granted to you, but these outsiders get everything by way of parables,
12 so that for all their seeing they may not perceive, and for all their hearing they may not understand, lest they turn and be forgiven."
13 And he said to them, "You do not understand this parable? Then how are you to understand the other parables?
14 The sower sows the word.
15 As for those 'on the road,' when the seed is sown there ??as soon as they hear it, Satan at once comes and carries off the word sown within them.
16 Similarly those who are sown 'on stony soil' are the people who on hearing the word accept it with enthusiasm;
17 but they have no root in themselves, they do not last; the next thing is that when the word brings trouble or persecution, they are at once repelled.
18 Another set are those who are sown 'among thorns'; they listen to the word,
19 but the worries of the world and the delight of being rich and all the other passions come in to choke the word; so it proves unfruitful.
20 As for those who were sown 'on good soil,' these are the people who listen to the word and take it in and bear fruit at the rate of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
21 He also said to them, "Is a lamp brought to be placed under a bowl or a bed? Is it not to be placed upon the stand?
22 Nothing is hidden except to be disclosed, nothing concealed except to be revealed.
23 If anyone has an ear to hear, let him listen to this."
24 Also he said to them, "Take care what you hear; the measure you deal out to others will be dealt out to yourselves, and you will receive extra.
25 For he who has, to him shall more be given; while as for him who has not, from him shall be taken even what he has."
26 And he said, "It is with the Realm of God as when a man has sown seed on earth;
27 he sleeps at night and rises by day, and the seed sprouts and shoots up ??he knows not how.
28 (For the earth bears crops by itself, the blade first, the ear of corn next, and then the grain full in the ear.)
29 But whenever the crop is ready, he has the sickle put in at once, as harvest has come."
30 He said also, "To what can we compare the Realm of God? how are we to put it in a parable?
31 It is like a grain of mustard-seed ??less than any seed on earth when it is sown on earth;
32 but once sown it springs up to be larger than any plant, throwing out such big branches that the wild birds can roost under its shadow."
33 In many a parable like this he spoke the word to them, so far as they could listen to it;
34 he never spoke to them except by way of parable, but in private he explained everything to his own disciples.
35 That same day when evening came he said to them, "Let us cross to the other side;"
36 so, leaving the crowd, they took him just as he was in the boat, accompanied by some other boats.
37 But a heavy squall of wind came on, and the waves splashed into the boat, so that the boat filled.
38 He was sleeping on the cushion in the stern, so they woke him up saying, "Teacher, are we to drown, for all you care?"