He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables?
Parallel Translations
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He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables?
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And he sayde vnto the: Perceave ye not this similitude? how then shulde ye vnderstonde all other similitudes?
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Againe he said vnto them, Perceiue ye not this parable? howe then should ye vnderstand all other parables?
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Mark 4:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
- Matthew 13:18-23 “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
- Matthew 13:51-52 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.” He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
- Matthew 15:15-17 Peter answered him, “Explain the parable to us.” So Jesus said, “Do you also still not understand? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body?
- Matthew 16:8-9 Jesus, perceiving it, said, “Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, ‘because you have brought no bread?’ Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
- Mark 7:17-18 When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him,
- Luke 8:11-15 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those along the road are those who hear, then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.
- Luke 24:25 He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
- 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, you aren’t ready even now,
- Hebrews 5:11-14 About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing. For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the revelations of God. You have come to need milk, and not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is not experienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby. But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 13 And he said unto them, Know ye not…
13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
Ver. 13. Know ye not this parable?] What a shame is that! Gross ignorance, under excellent means of knowledge, is a blushful sin.
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And how then will ye know all parables?] Anaxagoras the philosopher found himself benighted, and complained, omnia esse circumfusa tenebris, that there was a general darkness upon men’s understandings. Empedocles angustas esse sensuum semitas dixit: Empedocles said that the pathways of the senses were too narrow. And Democritus, that the truth lay hidden in a pit that had no bottom. Melancthon was heard to say, that he did not believe that there was any one man to be found in all Germany that could rightly understand one whole page in Aristotle’s Organon. How nmch less can any one understand gospel mysteries, but by a supernatural light! The Romans thought they had victory tied to them; we have not the knowledge of divine truths tied to us, &c. But as the Romans dedicated a lake (the depth whereof was unknown) to Victory, so must we be wise to sobriety; and what we cannot comprehend of God’s revealed will, run to Christ, and he will teach us, but still cry, "Oh the depth!" Rom 11:33.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And these are they likewise which are sown on…
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground,.... Such sort of hearers of the word are signified by the stony ground, on which the seed were sown, who are constant hearers of the word, and have some understanding of it, and some sort of affection for it, and yet their hearts are not truly broken by it; they are not brought to a thorough sight and sense of sin, and of their need of Christ, and salvation by him; their stony hearts are not taken away, and hearts of flesh given them:
who when they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness; seem highly pleased, and greatly delighted with it, as being a well connected scheme things; and which declares things, as heaven and eternal happiness, which they, from a principle of self love, are desirous of enjoying.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Know ye not this parable? - Which is as…
Know ye not this parable? - Which is as it were the foundation of all those that I shall speak hereafter; and is so easy to be understood?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Know ye not this parable?] The scope…
Verse 13. Know ye not this parable?] The scope and design of which is so very obvious.
How then will ye know all parables?] Of which mode of teaching ye should be perfect masters, in order that ye may be able successfully to teach others. This verse is not found in any of the other evangelists.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Mar 4:13-20. Know ye not this parable — Which…
Mar 4:13-20. Know ye not this parable — Which is, as it were, the foundation of all those that I shall speak hereafter; and is so easy to be understood? See notes on Mat 13:19-23. The desires of other things choke the word — A deep and important truth! The desire of any thing, otherwise than as it leads to happiness in God, directly tends to barrenness of soul. Entering in — Where they were not before. Let him therefore who has received and retained the word, see that no other desire then enter in, such as perhaps till then he never knew. It becometh unfruitful — After the fruit had grown almost to perfection.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. All parables — Of which this is the…
13. All parables — Of which this is the first, and in a great degree the key.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. Know ye not this parable?] For it afforded…
13. Know ye not this parable?] For it afforded the simplest type or pattern of a Parable.
all parables = all My Parables.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) How then will ye know all parables?—The question…
(13) How then will ye know all parables?—The question is peculiar to St. Mark, and suggests the thought of our Lord as contemplating for His disciples an ever-growing insight, not only into His own spoken parables, but into those of nature and of life. But if they were such slow scholars in this early stage, how was that insight to be imparted? The question is followed up by the answer. The first lesson in interpreting is given in that which is a pattern and exemplar of the method of interpretation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Know ye not this parable? and how shall ye…
Know ye not this parable? and how shall ye know all the parables? that is, "How, then, can you expect to understand all parables, as they ought to do who are instructed unto the kingdom of heaven?" It is St. Mark alone who recalls and records these words. They are striking and vivid, as illustrating the condition of mind of the disciples at this time slow of apprehension, and yet desirous to learn.
From one learn all.
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I THIS IS A PRINCIPLE NOT TO BE UNIVERSALLY ACTED UPON IN EARTHLY THINGS. Because of:
1. Limitation of human powers.
2. Obscurity, complexity, and occasional discontinuity and non-uniformity of nature and human life.
II TO THOSE WHO ARE ILLUMINATED IT IS ABSOLUTELY VALID IN DIVINE THINGS.
1. Not because the forms and successive stooges of the truth are mere repetitions of one another.
2. But they are all centred and interpreted in one Person.
3. They all require the exercise of the same spiritual faculty. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus explains the parable of the soils to his followers and then tells them about using a lamp to show that hidden things will become known.
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Then he said to them
"Then Jesus said to his disciples"
Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the other parables?
Jesus used these questions to show how sad he was that his disciples could not understand his parable. AT: "If you cannot understand this parable, think about how hard it will be for you to understand all the other parables." (See: Rhetorical Question)
The farmer who sows his seed is
"The farmer who sows his seed represents"
the one who sows the word
The "word" represents God's message. Sowing the message represents teaching it. AT: "the one who teaches people God's message" (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)
These are the ones that fall beside the road
"Some people are like the seeds that fall beside road" or "Some people are like the path where some of the seeds fell"
the road
"the path"
when they hear it
Here "it" refers to "the word" or "God's message."
translationWords
parable
plant
word
Satan
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:13 If Jesus’ hearers could not understand the parable,…
4:13 If Jesus’ hearers could not understand the parable, they might lack the grace of citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom. However, even the insiders required Jesus’ explanation.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.