4 And when a very great throng was gathering together and people from town after town kept coming to Jesus, He said in a parable:
5 A sower went out to sow seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the traveled path and was trodden underfoot, and the birds of the air ate it up.
6 And some [seed] fell on the rock, and as soon as it sprouted, it withered away because it had no moisture.
7 And other [seed] fell in the midst of the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it [off].
8 And some seed fell into good soil, and grew up and yielded a crop a hundred times [as great]. As He said these things, He called out, He who has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him consider and understand by hearing!
9 And when His disciples asked Him the meaning of this parable,
10 He said to them, To you it has been given to [come progressively to] know (to recognize and understand more strongly and clearly) the mysteries and secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that, [though] looking, they may not see; and hearing, they may not comprehend. [Isa. 6:9, 10; Jer. 5:21; Ezek. 12:2.]