11. He said to them, “The secret of God’s kingdom has been given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables.
12. This is so that they can look and see but have no insight, and they can hear but not understand. Otherwise, they might turn their lives around and be forgiven.
13. "Don’t you understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?
14. The farmer scatters the word.
15. This is the meaning of the seed that fell on the path: When the word is scattered and people hear it, right away Satan comes and steals the word that was planted in them.
16. Here’s the meaning of the seed that fell on rocky ground: When people hear the word, they immediately receive it joyfully.
17. Because they have no roots, they last for only a little while. When they experience distress or abuse because of the word, they immediately fall away.
18. Others are like the seed scattered among the thorny plants. These are the ones who have heard the word;
19. but the worries of this life, the false appeal of wealth, and the desire for more things break in and choke the word, and it bears no fruit.
20. The seed scattered on good soil are those who hear the word and embrace it. They bear fruit, in one case a yield of thirty to one, in another case sixty to one, and in another case one hundred to one."
21. Jesus said to them, "Does anyone bring in a lamp in order to put it under a basket or a bed? Shouldn’t it be placed on a lampstand?
22. Everything hidden will be revealed, and everything secret will come out into the open.
23. Whoever has ears to listen should pay attention!"
24. He said to them, "Listen carefully! God will evaluate you with the same standard you use to evaluate others. Indeed, you will receive even more.
25. Those who have will receive more, but as for those who don’t have, even what they don’t have will be taken away from them."
26. Then Jesus said, "This is what God’s kingdom is like. It’s as though someone scatters seed on the ground,