And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth 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.
- BSB Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows 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 thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
- 2 Th 1:3We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
- Eccl 8:17Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
- 1 Cor 15:37–38And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
- 2 Pet 3:18But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
- John 3:7–8Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 4:27 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.