and as he sowed, some seed fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate it.

"This is the seed sown by the wayside. And the word, and at once receives it with joy.

"And the seed sown among thorns is he who hears the word, but the anxieties of the age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

"But the seed sown in good soil is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit, and makes now an hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty."

He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven," he said, "is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;

"The slaves of the owner went to him and said: "'Was it not good seed, sir, that you sowed in your field? From whence then, do you get tares?'