Mark 4:3-5 New English Translation
3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow.[a] 4 And as he sowed, some seed[b] fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground[c] where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.[d]
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- Mark 4:3 sn A sower went out to sow. The background for this well-known parable, drawn from a typical scene in the Palestinian countryside, is a field through which a well worn path runs. Sowing would occur in late fall or early winter (October to December) in the rainy season, looking for sprouting in April or May and a June harvest. The use of seed as a figure for God’s giving life has OT roots (Isa 55:10-11). The point of the parable of the sower is to illustrate the various responses to the message of the kingdom of God (cf. 4:11).
- Mark 4:4 tn Mark’s version of the parable, like Luke’s (cf. Luke 8:4-8), uses the collective singular to refer to the seed throughout, so singular pronouns have been used consistently throughout this parable in the English translation. However, the parallel account in Matt 13:1-9 begins with plural pronouns in v. 4 but then switches to the collective singular in v. 5 ff.
- Mark 4:5 sn The rocky ground in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.
- Mark 4:5 tn Grk “it had no depth of earth.”
New English Translation (NET)
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