The sower soweth the word.
Parallel translations
- WEB The farmer sows the word.
- BSB The farmer sows the word.
- NKJV The sower sows the word.
- NASB The sower sows the word.
- NLT The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The sower sows the word. It matters because it identifies the seed as God's message, the gospel that produces life.
Overview
Jesus interprets the parable: the seed is the word of God proclaimed. This frames the whole parable around the spread and reception of the gospel. It teaches that the same word goes out to all, and that the varied outcomes depend not on the seed but on the soil of the human heart.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Acts 8:4Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
- Matt 13:19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
- Matt 13:37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
- Luke 8:11Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
- 1 Pet 1:23–25Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
- Mark 4:3Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
- Mark 2:2And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
- Col 1:5–6For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
- Isa 32:20Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.
- Luke 1:2Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 4:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.