16. “And blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear,
17. for truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous ones longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18. “You, then, hear the parable of the sower:
19. “When anyone hears the word of the reign, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is that sown by the wayside.
20. “And that sown on rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,
21. yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived, and when pressure or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
22. “And that sown among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the worry of this age and the deceit of riches choke the word, and it becomes fruitless.