Matthew 13:2-9
2 But such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat there [positioning Himself as a teacher], while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
3 He told them many things in (a)parables, saying, “Listen carefully: a sower went out to sow [seed in his field];
4 and as he sowed, some seed fell beside the road [between the fields], and the birds came and ate it.
5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil; and at once they sprang up because they had no depth of soil.
6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, and thorns came up and choked them out.
8 Other seed fell on good soil and yielded grain, some a hundred times as much [as was sown], some sixty [times as much], and some thirty.
9 He who has ears [to hear], let him hear and heed My words.”
Footnotes:
a.
Matthew 13:3: A short story that illustrates a moral or religious principle.