1And Jesus again began to teach by the sea side; and there was gathered to Him a great crowd, so that He got into a boat, and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was along the shore. 2And He taught them many things by parables, and said to them, 3“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed; 4And as he scattered it, some fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5And some fell on stony ground, where there was not much soil; and it quickly sprang up, but because it had no depth of soil, 6When the sun rose, it was scorched; and having little root, it withered away. 7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up, and choked it, so that it yielded no fruit. 8But some fell on good ground, and yielded a crop - some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.” 9And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10And when He was alone, the twelve and those that were around Him asked about the parable. 11And He said to them, “To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those outside, all these things are told in parables, 12That while they may see, they do not perceive; and hearing they may not understand; and turn, be converted, and their sins forgiven them.” 13Then He asked them, “Do you understand this parable? If not, how then will you understand any parables? 14The farmer sows the seed by spreading God’s word. 15And there are those by the wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan immediately comes, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16And then there are they in that are in stony ground, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, 17And yet they have no root (depth) in themselves, and so they last only for a short time; and later, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, they are offended and fall away. 18And then there are the seeds that fall among thorns; who hear the word, 19But when the cares of this age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things enter in, those ‘thorns’ choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20And then there are they that fall on good ground - those who hear the word, accept it, and produce fruit: some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.”

21And He said to them, “Is a lamp brought into a room to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not to be set on a lampstand? 22For there is nothing hidden, which shall not be revealed; nor is anything kept secret, that will not come to light. 23If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.”

24And He said to them, “Pay close attention to what you are hearing: for with whatever measure you measure, it shall be measured to you; and the closer you listen, the more you shall be given to understand. 25To those that listen to My teaching, more understanding shall be given; but for those that will not listen, what little understanding they have shall be taken from them.”

26And He also said, “The kingdom of God is like this: a man scatters seed on the ground; 27And night and day, whether he sleeps or wakes, the seed should sprout and grow up, though he does not know how. 28For the earth brings forth fruit by herself: first the blade, then the ear, after that the full grain kernel in the ear. 29But as soon as the fruit is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

30And He said, “To what shall we then liken the kingdom of God? Or what parable (analogy) shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a grain of mustard seed, which is the least (smallest) of all the seeds on earth; 32But when planted, it grows up, and becomes larger than all other herbs, and shoots out great branches, so that the birds can nest or lodge under its shadow.” 33And with many such parables He spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to understand it. 34But He did not speak with them without a parable; and then, when they were alone, He explained all of them to His disciples.

35And that day, when evening had come, He said to His disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36And when they had sent the crowd away, they took Jesus in a boat. And there were also other small boats that followed Him. 37And there arose a powerful wind storm, and the waves broke over and into the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38And He was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a pillow; and they awakened Him, and said to Him, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” 39And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still.” And the wind died down, and there was a great calm. 40And He said to His disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41And they were awestruck, and said one to another, “What manner of man is This, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”