Goodspeed(i)
1 That same day Jesus went out of his house and was sitting on the seashore.
2 And such great crowds gathered about him that he got into a boat and sat down in it, while all the people stood on the shore.
3 And he told them many things in figures, and said to them, "A sower went out to sow,
4 and as he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the path and the birds came and ate it up,
5 and some fell on rocky ground where there was not much soil and it sprang up at once, because the soil was not deep,
6 but when the sun came up it was scorched and withered up, because it had no root.
7 And some of it fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it out.
8 And some fell on good soil, and yielded some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty-fold.
9 Let him who has ears listen!"
10 His disciples came up and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in figures?"
11 He answered, "You are permitted to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they are not.
12 For people who have will have more given to them, and will be plentifully supplied, and from people who have nothing even what they have will be taken away.
13 This is why I speak to them in figures, because though they look they do not see, and though they listen they do not hear or understand.
14 They are a fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, " 'You will listen and listen, and never understand, And you will look and look, and never see!
15 For this nation's mind has grown dull, And they hear faintly with their ears, And they have shut their eyes, So as never to see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their minds, and turn back, And let me cure them!'