Mark 4 · WEB
Parables of the Kingdom and Calming the Storm
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Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea.
2He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching,
3"Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow,
4and as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it.
5Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil.
6When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
7Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
8Others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much."
9He said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."
10When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
11He said to them, "To you is given the mystery of God's Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,
12that 'seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.'"
13He said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables?
14The farmer sows the word.
15The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
16These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.
17They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble.
18Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word,
19and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times."
21He said to them, "Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn't it put on a stand?
22For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.
23If any man has ears to hear, let him hear."
24He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear.
25For whoever has, to him will more be given, and he who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away from him."
26He said, "God's Kingdom is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,
27and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn't know how.
28For the earth bears fruit by itself: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
30He said, "How will we liken God's Kingdom? Or with what parable will we illustrate it?
31It's like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,
32yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow."
33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.
34Without a parable he didn't speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
35On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let's go over to the other side."
36Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him.
37A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled.
38He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, "Teacher, don't you care that we are dying?"
39He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?"
41They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
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Summary
Jesus teaches a crowd from a boat using parables — most notably the sower, in which seed represents God's word and four soils represent four responses. Privately he explains the parable to his disciples and adds parables of the lamp, the growing seed, and the mustard seed, all picturing the surprising, hidden growth of God's kingdom. That evening a violent storm threatens to sink the disciples' boat until Jesus rebukes wind and sea with a word, leaving them awestruck and asking, "Who then is this?"
Themes
- The word of God and the four kinds of hearers
- Hidden but unstoppable growth of God's kingdom
- Revelation given to insiders, concealed in parables to outsiders
- Jesus' authority over creation
- Faith versus fear
Key verses
- Mark 4:20 — “Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit.”
- Mark 4:39 — “He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
- Mark 4:41 — “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
- Mark 4:9 — “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Context & background
Mark, writing for a Roman audience around AD 60-65, gathers Jesus' parables of the kingdom into a single seaside teaching session beside the Sea of Galilee, the freshwater lake in northern Israel surrounded by hills that funnel sudden, violent windstorms onto the water. First-century Palestinian farmers broadcast seed by hand across paths, rocky outcroppings, and thorn-prone soil — every listener would picture this immediately. Mustard seeds were proverbially the smallest seeds known in Galilee, yet the black mustard plant could grow into a shrub ten feet high, large enough for birds to perch in. The crossing "to the other side" carried the disciples toward the Gentile region of the Decapolis on the eastern shore (modern Jordan/Golan).
Cross-references
- Daniel 2:34-35 — Small stone becoming a great mountain, like the mustard seed kingdom
- Isaiah 6:9-10 — The hearing-but-not-understanding prophecy Jesus quotes
- James 1:21-25 — Receiving the implanted word and bearing fruit by doing it
- Matthew 13:1-23 — Parallel parable of the sower with explanation
- Psalm 107:23-30 — God stilling the storm at sea, anticipating Jesus' authority