Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how.
Parallel translations
- WEB and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how.
- KJV And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
- NKJV and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.
- NASB and he goes to bed at night and gets up daily, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.
- NLT Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.
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 farmer sleeps and rises while the seed grows by a process he does not understand. It matters because it shows the kingdom's growth is God's mysterious work.
Overview
Day and night the seed grows on its own, beyond the farmer's knowledge or control. This pictures the secret, divinely powered advance of God's kingdom. It comforts disciples that fruitfulness depends not on their understanding or exertion but on God who gives the growth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Eccl 11:5As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
- 2 Th 1:3We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.
- Eccl 8:17I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
- 1 Cor 15:37–38And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else.
- 2 Pet 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
- John 3:7–8Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 4:27 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.