## The Parable of the Sower 

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And He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 

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And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 

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"Listen _to this_! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 

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and it happened that as he was sowing, some _seed_ fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. 

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And other _seed_ fell on the rocky _ground_ where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. 

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And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 

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And other _seed_ fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 

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And other _seeds_ fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." 

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And He was saying, **"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."** 

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And when He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, _began_ asking Him _about_ the parables. 

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And He was saying to them, **"To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, everything comes in parables,** 

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so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven." 

## The Parable of the Sower Explained 

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And He *said to them, **"Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?** 

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The sower sows the word. 

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And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 

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And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky _places_: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; 

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and they have no root in themselves, but are _only_ temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. 

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And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 

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but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 

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And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and are bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." 

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And He was saying to them, **"Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand?** 

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For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has _anything_ been secret, but that it would come to light. 

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If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." 

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And He was saying to them, **"Beware what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you.** 

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For whoever has, to him _more_ shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him." 

## The Parable of the Seed 

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And He was saying, **"The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;** 

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and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows--how, he himself does not know. 

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The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. 

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But when the grain is ripe, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." 

## The Parable of the Mustard Seed 

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And He was saying, **"How shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?** 

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_It is_ like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, 

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yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade." 

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And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear _it_; 

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and He was not speaking to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples. 

## Jesus Calms a Storm 

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And on that day, when evening came, He *said to them, **"Let us go over to the other side."** 

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And leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 

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And a great windstorm *arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. 

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And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they *got Him up and *said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" 

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And He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, **"Silence! Be still."** And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. 

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And He said to them, **"Why are you _so_ cowardly? Do you still have no faith?"** 

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And they became very afraid and were saying to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"