12. ‘Seeing, they may see and not perceive, and hearing, they may hear and not understand, so they may not turn back and be forgiven.’”
13. He said to them, “Don’t you grasp this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?
14. The sower sows the word.
15. These are the ones beside the road where the word is sown. Whenever they hear, satan comes quickly and takes away the word that has been sown in them.
16. “These are the ones sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.
17. And they have no root in themselves but last only a short while. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.
18. “And others are the ones sown among the thorns. They have heard the word;
19. but the worries of the world, the seduction of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20. “And those are the ones sown on the good soil. They hear the word and accept it and produce fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
21. He also was saying to them, “Is a lamp put under a basket or a bed? No, shouldn’t it be placed on a lampstand?
22. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything kept secret except that it would come to light.
23. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24. Then He continued, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you; and more will be added to you.
25. For whoever has, to him more will be given. And whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
26. And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like when a man spreads seed on the soil
27. and falls asleep at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows. He himself doesn’t know how.
28. Automatically, the earth brings forth a crop—first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
29. But when the grain is ready, at once he sends in the sickle, for the harvest has come.”