10 And as soon as He was alone, those who were around Him, with the Twelve [apostles], began to ask Him about the parables. 11 And He said to them, To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, 1 the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside [ 2 of our circle] everything becomes a parable,
12 In order that they may [indeed] look and look but not see and perceive, and may hear and hear but not grasp and comprehend, 3 lest haply they should turn again, and it [ 4 their willful rejection of the truth] should be forgiven them.
13 And He said to them, Do you not discern and understand this parable? How then is it possible for you to discern and understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the Word. 15 The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown [in their hearts], but when they hear, Satan comes at once and [by force] takes away the message which is sown in them. 16 And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy; 17 And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away. 18 And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word; 19 Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless. 20 And those sown on the good (well-adapted) soil are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit--some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some [even] a hundred times as much.