1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.
2 A large crowd gathered around him. So he got into a boat and sat down. All the people stayed on the shore.
3 Then Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He told them this story: “A farmer went out to sow seed.
4 While he was scattering the seed, some of it fell by the road. The birds came and ate all that seed.
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where there was not enough dirt. It grew very fast there, because the soil was not deep.
6 But when the sun rose, it burned the plants. The plants died because they did not have deep roots.
7 Some other seed fell among thorny weeds. The weeds grew and stopped the good plants from growing.