Other seed fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants so they produced no grain.
Parallel translations
- WEB Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
- KJV And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
- BSB Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.
- NKJV And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
- NASB Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
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
Some seed falls among thorns that choke it so it bears no fruit. It matters because it pictures a heart where competing concerns smother the word.
Overview
The thorns grow alongside the seed and strangle its growth. This represents hearers in whom worldly cares and desires crowd out the word. Jesus warns that good beginnings can be rendered fruitless when rival affections are allowed to dominate the heart, a danger every believer must guard against.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 4:3For Yahweh says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns.
- Luke 8:14That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
- Gen 3:17–18To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
- 1 Jn 2:15–16Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.
- Luke 8:7Other fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it, and choked it.
- Matt 13:22What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
- Luke 21:34“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
- Matt 13:7Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.
- Mark 4:18–19Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word,
- Luke 12:15He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
- 1 Tim 6:9–10But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
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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 4:7 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.