"Listen then to this parable of the farmer [who sowed seed].

[Then] Jesus told them another parable, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is similar to a person who sowed seed in his field,

[People who are] peacemakers sow [seeds of] peace and it produces a crop of righteousness [in the lives of others].

Some of the seed that fell along the roadside represents where 'the word' was sown [i.e., preached]. When these people have heard, immediately Satan comes and takes away 'the word' which had been sown in them.

Now [specific] promises were made to Abraham and to his seed [i.e., descendants]. [God] did not say "seeds" [plural] as though He were referring to many persons but "seed" [singular] showing that He meant one [descendant]; [Gen. 13:15 says] "And to your seed," referring to Christ.

And some of the seed he sowed [i.e., scattering it by hand] landed along the side of the road and birds came and ate it.

Then the one who was given [only] one talent came and reported, 'Master, I knew you were a difficult man who reaped where you had not sown, and gathered a harvest where you had not scattered seed,

But his master said to him, 'You wicked, lazy servant. [Since] you knew that I reaped where I had not sown and gathered where I had not scattered seed,

and it happened, as he sowed [i.e., scattering the seed by hand], some of it fell by the side of the road and birds came and ate it.

And in the same way, some [of the seed] that was sown on rocky soil represented those who heard 'the word' and immediately accepted it gladly,

And what you yourself sow is not the plant that will [eventually] come up, but simply a seed. It may be a grain of wheat or something else.

You have experienced new birth, not from seed that can decay, but from seed that cannot decay, through the living and enduring word of God.

This seed is indeed [one of] the smallest of all seeds, but when it is [fully] grown, it is larger than [other] plants, and [even] becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and roost on its branches."

And other seeds represent those who are sown among thorns. These are people who heard 'the word,'

A farmer went out [to his field] to plant grain. And as he sowed [i.e., scattering seeds by hand], some of it landed along side of the road; it was stepped on by people and [eventually] birds of the sky came and ate it.