¹ Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore. ²And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said, ³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.” ⁹Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ¹⁰ As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable. ¹¹He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, ¹²so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’” ¹³ Then Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? ¹⁴The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop—thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold.”

³³With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand. ³⁴He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, ¹¹so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

⁴For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love ⁵He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One. ⁷In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace ⁸that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. ⁹And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ. ¹¹In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. ¹³And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.