Mark 4:13-20

Contemporary English Version

Jesus Explains the Story about the Farmer

(Matthew 13.18-23; Luke 8.11-15)

¹³ Jesus then told them:

If you don't understand this story, you won't understand any others. ¹⁴ What the farmer is spreading is really the message about the kingdom. ¹⁵ The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message. But Satan soon comes and snatches it away from them. ¹⁶ The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it at once. ¹⁷ But they don't have roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

¹⁸ The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. ¹⁹ But they start worrying about the needs of this life. They are fooled by the desire to get rich and to have all kinds of other things. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. ²⁰ The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and welcome the message. They produce 30 or 60 or even 100 times as much as was planted.