{"meta":{"source":"Prime Bible","sourceUrl":"https://primebible.com","license":"Public domain (translation text); see citation policy at /citation-policy","organization":"501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 41-2531951","canonicalUrl":"https://primebible.com/wnt/mark/4","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-06-17T09:35:04.172Z"},"reference":{"translation":"WNT","book":"Mark","bookSlug":"mark","chapter":4,"testament":"NEW"},"navigation":{"previousChapter":3,"nextChapter":5,"totalChapters":16,"totalVerses":41},"verses":[{"verseNumber":1,"text":"Once more He began to teach by the side of the Lake, and a vast multitude of people came together to listen to Him. He therefore went  on board the boat and sat there, a little way from the land; and all the people were on the shore close to the water."},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"Then He proceeded to teach them many lessons in figurative language; and in His teaching He said,"},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"|Listen: the sower  goes out to sow."},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"As he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and the birds come and peck it up."},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"Some falls on the rocky ground where it finds but little earth, and it shoots up quickly because it has no depth of soil;"},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"but when the sun is risen, it is scorched, and through having no root it withers away."},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"Some, again, falls among the thorns; and the thorns spring up and stifle it, so that it yields no crop."},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"But some of the seed falls into good ground, and gives a return: it comes up and increases, and yields thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold.|"},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"|Listen,| He added, |every one who has ears to listen with!|"},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"When He was alone, the Twelve and the others who were about Him requested Him to explain His figurative language."},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"|To you,| He replied, |has been entrusted  the secret truth concerning the Kingdom of God; but to those others outside your number all this is spoken in figurative language;"},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"that |'They may look and look but not see, and listen and listen but not understand, lest perchance they should return and be pardoned.'|"},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"|Do you all miss the meaning of this parable?| He added; |how then will you understand the rest of my parables?|"},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"|What the sower sows is the Message."},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"Those who receive the seed by the way-side are those in whom the Message is sown, but, when they have heard it, Satan comes at once and carries away the Message sown in them."},{"verseNumber":16,"text":"In the same way those who  receive the seed on the rocky places are those who, when they have heard the Message, at once accept it joyfully,"},{"verseNumber":17,"text":"but they have no root within them. They last for a time; then, when suffering or persecution comes because of the Message, they  are immediately overthrown."},{"verseNumber":18,"text":"Others there are who  receive the seed among the thorns: these are they who have heard the Message,"},{"verseNumber":19,"text":"but worldly cares and the deceitfulness of wealth and the excessive pursuit of other objects come in and stifle the Message, and it becomes unfruitful."},{"verseNumber":20,"text":"Those, on the other hand, who  have received the seed on the good ground, are all who hear the Message and welcome it, and yield a return of thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold.|"},{"verseNumber":21,"text":"He went on to say, |Is the lamp brought in in order to be put under the  bushel or under the bed? Is it not rather in order that it may be placed on the lampstand?"},{"verseNumber":22,"text":"Why, there is nothing hidden except with a view to its being ultimately disclosed, nor has anything been made a secret but that it may at last come to light."},{"verseNumber":23,"text":"Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!|"},{"verseNumber":24,"text":"He also said to them, |Take care what you hear. With what measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and that with interest."},{"verseNumber":25,"text":"For those who have will have more given them; and from those who have not, even what they have will be taken away.|"},{"verseNumber":26,"text":"Another saying of His was this: |The Kingdom of God is as if a man scattered seed over the ground:"},{"verseNumber":27,"text":"he spends days and nights, now awake, now asleep, while the seed sprouts and grows tall, he knows not how."},{"verseNumber":28,"text":"Of itself the land produces the crop--  first the blade, then the ear; afterwards the perfect grain is seen in the ear."},{"verseNumber":29,"text":"But no sooner is the crop ripe, than he sends the  reapers, because the time of harvest has come.|"},{"verseNumber":30,"text":"Another saying of His was this: |How are we to picture the Kingdom of God? or by what figure of speech shall we represent it?"},{"verseNumber":31,"text":"It is like a mustard-seed, which, when sown in the earth, is the smallest of all the seeds in the world;"},{"verseNumber":32,"text":"yet when sown it springs up and becomes larger than all the  herbs, and throws out great branches, so that the birds build under its shadow.|"},{"verseNumber":33,"text":"With many such parables He used to speak the Message to them according to their capacity for receiving it."},{"verseNumber":34,"text":"But except in figurative language He spoke nothing to them; while to His own disciples He expounded everything, in private."},{"verseNumber":35,"text":"The same day, in the evening, He said to them, |Let us cross to the other side.|"},{"verseNumber":36,"text":"So they got away from the crowd, and took Him--as He was--in the boat; and other boats accompanied Him."},{"verseNumber":37,"text":"But a heavy squall came on, and the waves were now dashing into the boat, so that it was fast filling."},{"verseNumber":38,"text":"But He Himself was in the stern asleep, with His head on the cushion: so they woke Him.  |Rabbi,| they cried, |is it nothing to you that we are drowning?|"},{"verseNumber":39,"text":"So He roused Himself and rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, |Silence! Be still!| The wind sank, and a perfect calm set in."},{"verseNumber":40,"text":"|Why are you so timid?| He asked; |have you still no faith?|"},{"verseNumber":41,"text":"Then they were filled with terror, and began to say to one another, |Who is this, then? For even wind and sea obey Him.|"}],"citation":{"inline":"Mark 4 (WNT)","markdown":"[Mark 4](https://primebible.com/wnt/mark/4)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* WNT. https://primebible.com/wnt/mark/4 (accessed 2026-06-17)."}}