The farmer sows the word.
Parallel translations
- KJV The sower soweth 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 those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word.
- Matt 13:19When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.
- Matt 13:37He answered them, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
- Luke 8:11Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
- 1 Pet 1:23–25having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.
- Mark 4:3“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow,
- Mark 2:2Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them.
- Col 1:5–6because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News,
- Isa 32:20Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
- Luke 1:2even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,
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.