¹Next he began to teach again by the sea, and a large crowd gathered around him, so that he went on board a boat to sit in on the sea, while the whole crowd was by the sea on land. ²And he taught them many things in parables, and he said to them in the course of his teaching, ³“Listen. A sower once went out to sow seed. ⁴And it so happened that as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵But some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much soil, and it immediately sprang up through not having depth of soil, ⁶but when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it did not have a root, it withered. ⁷And some fell into the thorn bushes, and the thorn plants came up and choked it, and it did not yield any fruit. ⁸And other seed fell onto good ground, and while it sprang up and grew, it yielded produce, and some produced a thirtyfold return, and some a sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.” ⁹And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ¹⁰Then when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him the meaning of the parable, ¹¹and he said to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those outside, everything comes in parables, ¹³And he said to them, “Do you not know the meaning of this parable? How then can you know the meaning of any parable? ¹⁴The sower sows the word. ¹⁵One group are those alongside the road where the word is sown, but when they hear it, Satan immediately comes and removes the word sown in their hearts. ¹⁶And another group are like those sown on the stony ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, ¹⁷but they do not have an inward root, but rather are for a season. Then when affliction or persecution comes on account of the word, they immediately stumble. ¹⁸And another group are those sown in the thorn bushes, who hear the word, ¹⁹but the cares of this age and the deceit of riches and the desires in regard to other matters, when they come in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰And another group are those sown on the good ground, who hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, some a thirtyfold return, and some a sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.” ²¹Furthermore he said to them, “A lamp isn't brought to be put under a bushel of corn or under a bed, is it? It is to be put on a lampstand, isn't it? ²²For there is nothing hidden whatever which will not be made manifest, nor has anything secret taken place but that it will come into the open. ²³If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴And he said to them, “Watch out with what you hear. By the same measure by which you measure, it will be meted out to you. And to you who hear, the measure will be increased. ²⁵For to whoever has, more will be given. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” ²⁶And he said, “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man were casting seed on the ground, ²⁷and should sleep and get up night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow long in a way he is unaware of, ²⁸for the land produces fruit spontaneously: first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. ²⁹But when the fruit yields itself, he immediately sends out the sickle, because the harvest is at hand.” ³⁰And he said, “To what should we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what kind of parable should we represent it? ³¹It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the ground is the smallest of all the seeds which are on the earth, ³²but when it is sown, it comes up and becomes bigger than all the other vegetables and puts out big branches, so that the birds of the sky can settle in its shade.” ³³And he spoke the word to them in many such parables, inasmuch as they were able to give them a hearing. ³⁴Indeed he did not speak to them without using a parable. But he did explain everything privately to his disciples. ³⁵And he said to them on that day when evening had come, “Let's go across to the other side.” ³⁶Then when they had sent the crowd away, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. And there were other small boats with him. ³⁷And a severe windy storm arose, and the waves were breaking over into the boat, so that it was already filling up. ³⁸And he was at the stern, sleeping on a pillow, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, is it not of concern to you that we are in mortal danger?” ³⁹And when he woke up, he rebuked the wind, and he said to the sea, “Be quiet; be silenced.” And the wind abated, and a great calm came. ⁴⁰Then he said to them, “Why are you fearful like this? How come you do not have faith?” ⁴¹And they were very afraid, and they said to each other, “Who can this be then, seeing both the wind and sea obey him?”

Reference(s) in Chapter 4: v.12 ↔ Isaiah 6:9, Isaiah 6:10.