Mark 4:21-41

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket

²¹ He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not on the lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.^{(A) 23} If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^{(B) 24} And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and it will be added to you.^{(C) 25} For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”^(D)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground^{(E) 27} and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. ²⁸ The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”^(F)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?^{(G) 31} It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Use of Parables

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it;^{(H) 34} he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.^(I)

Jesus Stills a Storm

³⁵ On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.^{(J) 37} A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”^{(K) 41} And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”