Chapter 4

1Jesus began teaching again beside the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat on the water, while everyone remained on the shore.

2He taught them many things through parables—short stories and comparisons. As he taught, he said:

3“Listen! A farmer went out to scatter seed.

4Jesus continued, “As he scattered it, some seed fell beside the path. Birds came and ate it.

5“Other seed fell on rocky ground, where there was not much soil. It sprang up immediately because the soil was shallow.

6“When the sun rose, the plant was scorched. Because it had no root, it dried up.

7“Other seed fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked it, so it produced no crop.

8“Other seeds fell into good soil. They came up, grew, and produced a crop. Some yielded thirty times what was planted, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”

9Then Jesus said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen carefully.”

10Later, away from the crowd, the people around Jesus and the Twelve asked him about the parables.

11He told them, “You have been given the hidden truth about God’s rule as king. But for those outside your group, everything comes through parables.

12Jesus continued, “They may look and look but never truly see, and listen and listen but never understand. Otherwise, they might turn back to God and be forgiven.”

13Then Jesus asked them, “You do not understand this parable? How, then, will you understand any of the parables?

14“The farmer scatters the message.

15“Some people are like the seed beside the path, where the message is scattered. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the message planted in them.

16“Others are like the seed scattered on rocky ground. As soon as they hear the message, they receive it with joy.

17“But it never takes root within them, so they last only a short time. When they suffer trouble or are attacked because of the message, they immediately give it up.

18“Others are like the seed scattered among thorns. These are people who have heard the message,

19“but the worries people face in the present age, the false promise of wealth, and desires for other things enter and choke the message, so it produces no crop.

20“Still others are like the seed scattered on good soil. They hear the message, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty times what was planted, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”

21Jesus also said to them, “No one brings in a lamp to put it under a grain-measuring basket or beneath a bed. A lamp is brought in to be put on a stand.

22“Anything hidden is meant to be revealed, and anything kept secret is meant to come into the open.

23“Anyone with ears to hear should listen carefully.”

24Jesus told them, “Pay careful attention to what you hear. The measure you use will be used to measure what you receive, and even more will be added for you.

25“Whoever has understanding will be given more. Whoever does not have it will lose even what little they have.”

26Jesus also said, “God’s rule as king is like this: A man scatters seed on the ground.

27“He sleeps and gets up, night after night and day after day. The seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

28“The ground produces the crop by itself: first the stalk, then the head of grain, and finally the full grain in the head.

29“As soon as the crop is ready, the man puts in the sickle, because harvest time has come.”

30Jesus also said, “How can we picture God’s rule as king? What parable can we use for it?

31“It is like a mustard seed. When it is sown in the ground, it is smaller than all the other seeds sown there.

32“But after it is sown, it grows and becomes larger than all the garden plants. It produces large branches, so the birds of the sky can shelter in its shade.”

33Jesus used many parables like these to tell the people the message in a way they could take in.

34He did not speak to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything to them.

35That same day, when evening came, Jesus told his disciples, “Let us cross to the other side of the sea.”

36They left the crowd and took Jesus along in the boat just as he was. Other boats went with him.

37A fierce windstorm arose. Waves kept crashing into the boat, and it was already filling with water.

38Jesus was in the back of the boat, asleep on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said, “Teacher, do you not care that we are going to die?”

39Jesus woke up, ordered the wind to stop, and said to the sea, “Silence! Stay quiet!” The wind stopped, and the sea became completely calm.

40Then Jesus asked his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still not trust?”

41They were terrified and asked one another, “Who is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”