1Once again, Jesus began teaching by the sea. A large crowd gathered around him, so he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. The entire crowd remained on the shore by the sea.
2He taught them many things using stories, and in his teaching, he told them,
3“Listen! A farmer went out to plant seeds.
4As he scattered the seeds, some fell by the road, and birds came and ate them.
5Other seeds fell on rocky ground where there wasn't much soil. They sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.
6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and because they had no deep root, they dried up and died.
7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, choked the plants, and they produced no grain.
8Still other seeds fell on good ground and produced a crop, growing and multiplying. Some yielded thirty times as much, some sixty times, and some one-hundred times as much.”
9He said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen carefully.”
10When he was alone, those around him, along with the twelve disciples, asked him about the stories.
11He told them, “The secret of God’s Kingdom has been given to you, but for those outside, everything is presented in stories,
12so that ‘they may see but not understand, and they may hear but not comprehend, otherwise they might turn and be forgiven for their sins.’”
13He asked them, “Don't you understand this story? Then how will you understand all the other stories?
14The farmer is sowing God’s message.
15The seeds by the road represent people who hear the message, but then Satan immediately comes and takes away the message sown in them.
16Similarly, the seeds sown on rocky places represent people who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy.
17But they have no deep root in themselves, so they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they quickly give up.
18Others are like the seeds sown among thorns. These are people who have heard the message,
19but the worries of this life, the deception of wealth, and desires for other things come in, choke the message, and it becomes unproductive.”
20The people sown on good ground are those who hear the message, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, and some one hundred times what was sown.”
21He also asked them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bowl or under a bed? Shouldn't it be placed on a lampstand?
22For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing kept secret that will not come to light.
23Anyone with ears to hear should listen.”
24Then he told them, “Pay attention to what you hear. The standard you use to measure out will be used to measure back to you, and even more will be given to you who hear.
25For whoever has, more will be given to them; and whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken away from them.”
26He also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground.
27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
28The soil produces the crop by itself: first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
30Again he said, “What can we compare the Kingdom of God to? What parable can we use to explain it?
31It is like a mustard seed, which, when planted in the ground, is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
33With many similar parables Jesus spoke the message to them, as much as they could understand.
34He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side.”
36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along in the boat, just as he was. There were also other boats with him.
37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.
38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? How can it be that you have no faith?"
41They were terrified and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"