Mark:4

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* 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 . * Then He proceeded to teach them many lessons in figurative language ; and in His teaching He said , * »Listen : the sower goes out to sow .« * As he sows , some of the seed falls by the way-side , and the birds come and peck it up . * Some falls on the rocky ground where it finds but little earth , and it shoots up quickly because it has no depth of soil ; * but when the sun is risen , it is scorched , and through having no root it withers away . * Some , again , falls among the thorns ; and the thorns spring up and stifle it , so that it yields no crop . * 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 .« * »Listen ,« He added , »every one who has ears to listen with !« * When He was alone , the Twelve and the others who were about Him requested Him to explain His figurative language . * »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 ; * that * »Do you all miss the meaning of this parable ?« He added ; »how then will you understand the rest of my parables ?« * »What the sower sows is the Message .« * 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 . * 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 , * 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 . * Others there are who receive the seed among the thorns : these are they who have heard the Message , * 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 . * 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 .« * 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 ? * 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 . * Listen , every one who has ears to listen with !« * 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 . * For those who have will have more given them ; and from those who have not , even what they have will be taken away .« * Another saying of His was this : »The Kingdom of God is as if a man scattered seed over the ground : * he spends days and nights , now awake , now asleep , while the seed sprouts and grows tall , he knows not how . * Of itself the land produces the crop – first the blade , then the ear ; afterwards the perfect grain is seen in the ear . * But no sooner is the crop ripe , than he sends the reapers , because the time of harvest has come .« * 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 ? * It is like a mustard-seed , which , when sown in the earth , is the smallest of all the seeds in the world ; * 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 .« * With many such parables He used to speak the Message to them according to their capacity for receiving it . * But except in figurative language He spoke nothing to them ; while to His own disciples He expounded everything , in private . * The same day , in the evening , He said to them , »Let us cross to the other side .« * So they got away from the crowd , and took Him –as He was – in the boat ; and other boats accompanied Him . * But a heavy squall came on , and the waves were now dashing into the boat , so that it was fast filling . * 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 ?« * 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 . * »Why are you so timid ?« He asked ; »have you still no faith ?« * Then they were filled with terror , and began to say to one another , »Who is this , then ? For even wind and sea obey Him .«

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