JMNT(i)
2 Then He was continuing to teach them many things in parables (illustrations by comparison; [note: used for Hebrew masal in the LXX, so = a variety of figures of speech: riddle; proverb; ethical maxim; by-word; allegory; fable; enigmatic saying that is meant to stimulate intense thinking]) and was saying to them in the course of His teaching,
3 "You folks listen, and be hearing. Look and take notice (See and consider). The one habitually sowing (The sower) went out to continue sowing (scattering seed).
4 "And it happened, within the midst of the continued sowing, [that] some [seed] actually fell beside the path (or: alongside the road), and so the birds came and ate it down (devoured it).
5 "Then other [seed] fell upon the rocky place (or: an area of ground that is like stone; = hardpan; or: a rock shelf) – or, where it was not having (or: holding) much soil – and it at once (straightway) sprouted and shot up (rose and stood up out), because of the situation of not having a depth of soil.
6 "So when the sun rose back up again, it was burned (scorched), and because of the situation of not continuing to have a root (= because it cannot strike root), it was dried out and cause to wither.
7 "Still other [seed] fell into the thorns (thistles; prickly weeds), and the thorns ascended (mounted upward) and together choked (overwhelmed and crowded) it, and so it gave (yielded) no fruit.
8 "But still other [seeds] fell into the ideal soil – and, progressively ascending and being caused to continually grow and increase, it was continuing to give (yield) fruit (= a crop), and it kept on bearing into thirty-, in sixty-, even in one hundred- [fold] [other MSS: it was continuing to bear: one, thirty; one sixty; and one a hundred-{fold}]."
9 Then He continued saying, "The one continually in possession of (habitually having) ears to continue hearing, let him continue to listen and be hearing!"