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That same day, Yeshua went out of the house and sat down by the
lake;
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but such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat
there while the crowd stood on the shore.
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He told them many things in parables: "A farmer
went out to sow his seed.
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As he sowed, some seed fell alongside the path; and
the birds came and ate it up.
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Other seed fell on rocky patches where there was not
much soil. It sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow;
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but when the sun had risen, the young plants were
scorched; and since their roots were not deep, they dried up.
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Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and
choked the plants.
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But others fell into rich soil and produced grain, a
hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as had been sown.
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Those who have ears, let them hear!"
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Then the talmidim came and asked Yeshua, "Why are you speaking to
them in parables?"
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He answered, "Because it has been given to you
to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to
them.
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For anyone who has something will be given more, so
that he will have plenty; but from anyone who has nothing, even what he
does have will be taken away.
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Here is why I speak to them in parables: they look
without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding.
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That is, in them is fulfilled the prophecy of
Yesha`yahu which says, `You will keep on hearing but never understand, and
keep on seeing but never perceive,
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because the heart of this people has become dull --
with their ears they barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, so as
not to see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their
heart, and do t'shuvah, so that I could heal them.'
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But you, how blessed are your eyes, because they
see, and your ears, because they hear!
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Yes indeed! I tell you that many a prophet and many
a tzaddik longed to see the things you are seeing but did not see them,
and to hear the things you are hearing but did not hear them.
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"So listen to what the parable of the sower
means.
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Whoever hears the message about the Kingdom, but
doesn't understand it, is like the seed sown along the path -- the Evil
One comes and seizes what was sown in his heart.
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The seed sown on rocky ground is like a person who
hears the message and accepts it with joy at once,
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but has no root in himself. So he stays on for a
while; but as soon as some trouble or persecution arises on account of the
message, he immediately falls away.
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Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone
who hears the message, but it is choked by the worries of the world and
the deceitful glamor of wealth, so that it produces nothing.
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However, what was sown on rich soil is the one who
hears the message and understands it; such a person will surely bear
fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown."
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