1. Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake.
2. He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching said to them:
3. “Listen! A sower went out to sow.
4. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
5. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep.
6. When the sun came up it was scorched, and because it did not have sufficient root, it withered.
7. Other seed fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked it, and it did not produce grain.
8. But other seed fell on good soil and produced grain, sprouting and growing; some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty, and some a hundred times.”
9. And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!”
10. When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
11. He said to them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,
12. so that although they look they may look but not see,and although they hear they may hear but not understand,so they may not repent and be forgiven.”