3. “Listen! And take note: A sower went out to sow.
4. As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds of the air came and devoured it.
5. Some seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and soon it sprang up because it did not have deep soil.
6. But when the sun rose, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away.
7. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.
8. And other seed fell on good ground, and it yielded grain that sprang up and increased by thirty, sixty, or a hundred times as much.”
9. Then He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10. When He was alone, those who were around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.
11. He said to them, “To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, everything is said in parables,
12. so that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive,and hearing they may hear and not understand;lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.’”
13. Then He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14. The sower sows the word.
15. These are those beside the path, where the word is sown. But when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word which is sown in their hearts.
16. Others, likewise, are seed sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness,
17. but have no root in themselves, and so endure for a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution rises for the word’s sake, immediately they fall away.
18. And others are seed sown among thorns, the ones who hear the word.
19. But the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.