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Mark 4 :: New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95)

Parable of the Sower and Soils

Mar 4:1He 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.
Mar 4:2And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,
Mar 4:3“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow;
Mar 4:4as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.
Mar 4:5“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.
Mar 4:6“And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
Mar 4:7“Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
Mar 4:8“Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
Mar 4:9And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, [fn]let him hear.”
Mar 4:10As soon as He was alone, [fn]His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.
Mar 4:11And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,
Mar 4:12so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.”

Explanation

Mar 4:13And He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?
Mar 4:14“The sower sows the word.
Mar 4:15“These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
Mar 4:16“In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy;
Mar 4:17and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they [fn]fall away.
Mar 4:18“And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,
Mar 4:19but the worries of the [fn]world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
Mar 4:20“And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
Mar 4:21And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a [fn]basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand?
Mar 4:22“For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.
Mar 4:23“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Mar 4:24And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. [fn]By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.
Mar 4:25“For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

Parable of the Seed

Mar 4:26And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;
Mar 4:27and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.
Mar 4:28“The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
Mar 4:29“But when the crop permits, he immediately [fn]puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

Mar 4:30And He said, “How shall we [fn]picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?
Mar 4:31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil,
Mar 4:32yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that THE BIRDS OF THE [fn]AIR can NEST UNDER ITS SHADE.”
Mar 4:33With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;
Mar 4:34and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

Mar 4:35On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.”
Mar 4:36[fn]Leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him.
Mar 4:37And there *arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.
Mar 4:38Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Mar 4:39And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and [fn]it became perfectly calm.
Mar 4:40And He said to them, “Why are you [fn]afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
Mar 4:41They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
NASB95 Footnotes
Or, hear!; or listen!
Literally: those about Him
Literally: are caused to stumble
Or, age
Or, peck-measure
Literally: By what measure you measure
Literally: sends forth
Literally: compare
Or, sky
Or, Sending away
Literally: a great calm occurred
Or, cowardly
*
See the NASB95 Preface for an explanation on the use of the asterisk.
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New American Standard Bible 1995
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For more information on this translation, see the NASB95 Preface.

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