Mark 4:14

THE MESSAGE

"The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The sower sows

King James Version (1611)
The Sower soweth the word.

King James Version
The sower soweth the word.

English Standard Version
The sower sows the word.

New American Standard Bible
"The sower sows the word.

New Century Version
The farmer is like a person who plants God's message in people.

Amplified Bible
"The sower sows the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation].

Legacy Standard Bible
The sower sows the word.

Berean Standard Bible
The farmer sows the word.

Contemporary English Version
What the farmer is spreading is really the message about the kingdom.

Complete Jewish Bible
The sower sows the message.

Darby Translation
The sower sows the word:

Easy-to-Read Version
The farmer is like someone who plants God's teaching in people.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The sower soweth the worde.

George Lamsa Translation
The sower who sowed, sowed the word.

Good News Translation
The sower sows God's message.

Lexham English Bible
The sower sows the word.

Literal Translation
The sower sows the Word.

American Standard Version
The sower soweth the word.

Bible in Basic English
The seed is the word.

Hebrew Names Version
The farmer sows the word.

International Standard Version
The sower sows the word.Matthew 13:19;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
The sower who sowed, the word sowed.

Murdock Translation
The sower that sowed, sowed the word.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The sower, soweth the worde.

English Revised Version
The sower soweth the word.

World English Bible
The farmer sows the word.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way-side, where the word is sown;

Weymouth's New Testament
"What the sower sows is the Message.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He that sowith, sowith a word.

Update Bible Version
The sower sows the word.

Webster's Bible Translation
The sower soweth the word.

New English Translation
The sower sows the word.

New King James Version
The sower sows the word.

New Living Translation
The farmer plants seed by taking God's word to others.

New Life Bible
What the man plants is the Word of God.

New Revised Standard
The sower sows the word.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The sower, soweth the word;

Douay-Rheims Bible
He that soweth, soweth the word.

Revised Standard Version
The sower sows the word.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
The sower soweth ye worde.

Young's Literal Translation
He who is sowing doth sow the word;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The sower soweth the worde.

Mace New Testament (1729)
the sower is he that soweth the word.

Simplified Cowboy Version
The farmer spreads God's good news to others.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The sower sows the word.

Contextual Overview

¹He went back to teaching by the sea. A crowd built up to such a great size that he had to get into an offshore boat, using the boat as a pulpit as the people pushed to the water's edge. He taught by using stories, many stories. ³"Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams. ⁹ "Are you listening to this? Really listening?" ¹⁰When they were off by themselves, those who were close to him, along with the Twelve, asked about the stories. He told them, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can't see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight. These are people— Whose eyes are open but don't see a thing, Whose ears are open but don't understand a word, Who avoid making an about-face and getting forgiven." ¹³ He continued, "Do you see how this story works? All my stories work this way. ¹⁴"The farmer plants the Word. Some people are like the seed that falls on the hardened soil of the road. No sooner do they hear the Word than Satan snatches away what has been planted in them. ¹⁶"And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. ¹⁸"The seed cast in the weeds represents the ones who hear the kingdom news but are overwhelmed with worries about all the things they have to do and all the things they want to get. The stress strangles what they heard, and nothing comes of it. ²⁰ "But the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

sower: Mark 4:3, Isaiah 32:20, Matthew 13:19, Matthew 13:37, Luke 8:11

the word: Mark 2:2, Colossians 1:5, Colossians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:23-25

Reciprocal: Matthew 13:18 - General Mark 4:26 - as

Cross-References

Genesis 4:6
God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."

Genesis 4:13
Cain said to God , "My punishment is too much. I can't take it! You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me."

Genesis 4:15
God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

Genesis 4:16
Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden.

Leviticus 26:36
"As for those among you still alive, I'll give them over to fearful timidity—even the rustle of a leaf will throw them into a panic. They'll run here and there, back and forth, as if running for their lives even though no one is after them, tripping and falling over one another in total confusion. You won't stand a chance against an enemy. You'll perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will eat you up. Any who are left will slowly rot away in the enemy lands. Rot. And all because of their sins, their sins compounded by their ancestors' sins.

Numbers 35:19
"In such cases the avenger has a right to kill the murderer when he meets him—he can kill him on the spot.

Psalms 143:7
Hurry with your answer, God ! I'm nearly at the end of my rope. Don't turn away; don't ignore me! That would be certain death. If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I'll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel; I'm all ears, all eyes before you. Save me from my enemies, God — you're my only hope! Teach me how to live to please you, because you're my God. Lead me by your blessed Spirit into cleared and level pastureland.

Proverbs 14:32
The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold; the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.

Proverbs 28:1
The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one's after them; Honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions.

Jeremiah 52:3
The source of all this doom to Jerusalem and Judah was God 's anger. God turned his back on them as an act of judgment. Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar set out for Jerusalem with a full army. He set up camp and sealed off the city by building siege mounds around it. He arrived on the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah's reign. The city was under siege for nineteen months (until the eleventh year of Zedekiah).

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The sower soweth the word. Though our Lord thought fit to give the above gentle rebuke to his disciples for their dulness; yet he condescends to favour them with an interpretation of the above parable, which here begins: by this it appears, that the seed in the parable, before delivered, and which fell on different sorts of ground, is the word of God, which was preached to hearers of different dispositions: the word is the word of life and truth; the word of peace and reconciliation; the word of faith and righteousness; the word of salvation; the word which publishes and declares all these to be in and by Jesus Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 13:18-23.