April 26th, 2016, Kichijouji Bible Study
Gotthold Beck
Mark
4:1 Then Jesus began to teach again beside the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while the entire crowd remained beside the sea on the shore.
4:2 He began teaching them many things in parables. While he was teaching them he said,
4:3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow.
4:4 As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, and birds came and ate them up.
4:5 Others fell on stony ground, where they did not have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once because the soil wasn’t deep.
4:6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched. Since they did not have any roots, they dried up.
4:7 Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes came up and choked them out, and they did not produce anything.
4:8 But others fell on good soil and produced a crop. They grew up, increased in size, and produced 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.”
4:9 He added, “Let the person who has ears to hear, listen!”
4:10 When he was alone with the Twelve and those around him, they began to ask him about the parables.
4:11 He told them, “The secret about the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside, everything comes in parables
4:12 so that ‘they may see clearly but not perceive, and they may hear clearly but not understand, otherwise they might turn around and be forgiven.’”
4:13 Then he told them, “You don’t understand this parable, so how can you understand any of the parables?
4:14 The farmer sows the word.
4:15 Some people are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. When they hear it, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
4:16 Others are like the seeds sown on the stony ground. When they hear the word, at once they joyfully accept it,
4:17 but since they don’t have any roots, they last for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, they immediately fall away.
4:18 Still others are like the seeds sown among the thorn bushes. These are the people who hear the word,
4:19 but the worries of life, the deceitful pleasures of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word so that it can’t produce a crop.
4:20 Others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, accept it, and produce crops―30, 60, or 100 times what was sown.
[International Standard Version]
