4 And when a very great throng was gathering together and people from town after town kept coming to Jesus, He said in a parable: 5 A sower went out to sow seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the traveled path and was trodden underfoot, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 And some [seed] fell on the rock, and as soon as it sprouted, it withered away because it had no moisture. 7 And other [seed] fell in the midst of the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it [off]. 8 And some seed fell into good soil, and grew up and yielded a crop a hundred times [as great]. As He said these things, He called out, He who has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him 1 consider and understand by hearing!