4 ¹ ON ANOTHER OCCASION he began to teach by the lake-side. The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he had to get into a boat on the lake, and there he sat, with the whole crowd on the beach right down to the water's edge. 4 ² And he taught them many things by Pbles.

As he taught he said:
4 ³ 'Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 ⁴ And it happened that as he sowed, some seed fell along the footpath; and the birds came and ate it up. 4 ⁵ Some seed fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil, and it sprouted quickly because it had no depth of earth; 4 ⁶ but when the sun rose the young corn was scorched, and as it had no proper root it withered away. 4 ⁷ Some seed fell among thistles; but the thistles shot up and choked the corn, and it yielded no crop. 4 ⁸ And some of the seed fell into good soil, where it came up and grew, and bore fruit; and the yield was thirtyfold, sixtyfold, even a hundredfold .'
4 ⁹ He added, 'If you have ears to hear, then hear.'