The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
Parallel Translations
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The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
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And they that are by the wayes syde where the worde is sowen are they to whom assone as they have herde it Satha cometh immediatly and takith awaye the worde that was sowe in their hertes.
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And these are they that receiue the seede by the wayes side, in whome the worde is sowen: but when they haue heard it, Satan commeth immediatly, and taketh away the worde that was sowen in their heartes.
Cross-references (26)
Passages linked to Mark 4:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
- Matthew 13:19 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.
- Mark 4:4 and as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it.
- Luke 8:12 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.
- 2 Corinthians 2:11 that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
- 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.
- Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message? To whom has Yahweh’s arm been revealed?
- Luke 14:18-19 They all as one began to make excuses. “The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please have me excused.’ “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must go try them out. Please have me excused.’
- Acts 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?
- Job 1:6-12 Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.” Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.
- Matthew 22:5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise,
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9 even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
- Hebrews 2:1 Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away.
- Revelation 20:2-3 He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.
- Revelation 20:7 And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison,
- Revelation 20:10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
- Genesis 19:14 Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
- Zechariah 3:1 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.
- Matthew 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”
- Acts 26:31-32 When they had withdrawn, they spoke to one another, saying, “This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds.” Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
- Revelation 12:9 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
- Acts 17:18-20 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about? For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”
- Acts 17:32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”
- Acts 25:19-20 but had certain questions against him about their own religion, and about one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. Being perplexed how to inquire concerning these things, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters.
- Hebrews 12:16 lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal.
- Acts 18:14-17 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you; but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.” So he drove them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
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John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And these are they that are sown among thorns,....…
And these are they that are sown among thorns,.... Such hearers of the word are designed by the thorny ground, upon which other seed fell, as it was sown, who are of worldly dispositions; who are immoderately careful and anxious about the things of this life, and are bent upon acquiring earthly riches, and gratifying their carnal and sensual appetites:
such as hear the word; who notwithstanding are prevailed upon through custom, or the dictates of their consciences, to attend upon the ministry of the word.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. THESE are they] Probably our Lord here…
Verse 15. THESE are they] Probably our Lord here refers to the people to whom he had just now preached, and who, it is likely, did not profit by the word spoken.
Where the word is sown] Instead of this clause, four copies of the Itala read the place thus - They who are sown by the way side, are they WHO RECEIVE THE WORD NEGLIGENTLY. There are thousands of this stamp in the Christian world. Reader, art thou one of them?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. Satan cometh — Through his emissaries, symbolized by…
15. Satan cometh — Through his emissaries, symbolized by the fowls. Temptations have wings, and they come in flocks, and they have open beaks to snatch up the word of life and carry it off or devour it up. And how easily the seed of the word does go! People on Monday have forgotten both the sermon and the text of Sunday. The birds have come and devoured them both up.
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 15. Satan] See note above, Mar_3:23.
15. Satan] See note above, Mar_3:23.
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 (15) In their hearts.—The better MSS. give simply, “in…
(15) In their hearts.—The better MSS. give simply, “in them.”
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 Straightway cometh Satan. St. Matthew (Mat_13:19) says, "then cometh…
Straightway cometh Satan. St. Matthew (Mat_13:19) says, "then cometh (o ponhrov) the evil one;" the same expression which our Lord uses in the Lord"s Prayer, and which helps to justify the English rendering in the Revised Version there. As the seed failing by the wayside is refused by the hard and well-trodden ground, and so is readily picked up by the birds; in like manner, the seed of God"s Word, falling upon a heart rendered callous by the custom of sinning, is straightway snatched away by "the evil one," urging the heart again to its accustomed sins. Well may we pray to be delivered from this "evil one.
Vers. 15-20. The perils and the prospects of the good seed of the kingdom.
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The importance of the parable of the sower is shown by the prominence given to it by the evangelists, and by the question of our Lord in the thirteenth verse, "Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?" In some respects it was the basis of similar teaching, while the key to its interpretation, given by the Lord himself, opens the door of other mysteries. The illustration is an analogy, going deeper than many suppose. Husbandry was the appointment of God when man dwelt in the bliss of paradise, before the Divine order had been interfered with by human sin and self-will. Even in man"s unfallen state, seed had to be sown and cared for, while the blessing of heaven was always essential to its productiveness. He who made the first Adam a sower in things natural, made the second Adam a Sower in what was spiritual. Our Lord referred to himself and to all who follow him in his work when he said, "Behold, the sower went forth to sow." Now, soil and seed are essential to each other. Many a man has the "honest and good heart;" but he must not be content with that, for, as the richest soil will remain empty unless seed be in it, so even such a heart will be unproductive of spiritual results without Christ, the true and living Word. While the soil is thus useless without the seed, the seed is unproductive without the soil. Hence Christ urged men to receive him, and hence he said of his teaching, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Christian truth may be intellectually known and propagated, but the world is only the richer for it as it becomes the inspiration of human hearts. Christ"s words must be translated into men"s lives, that they may be read as living epistles." In a sense, the Lord himself must become incarnate in each of his followers. (Col_1:27) For the world"s sake, as well as our own, may we receive the seed of the kingdom! This parable speaks of
I THE PERILS WHICH THREATEN THE GOOD SEED. Let us seek to recognize them in the various thoughts which contend for the mastery with Christ"s truth.
1. Evil thoughts. They come through companions, from books, etc., but find their source in Satan (Ver. 15). Often we find that they are most intrusive just after or during our holiest hours. They are like the birds of prey which swooped down on Abraham"s sacrifice when he was making his covenant with God (Genesis 15). Like him, we must seek by constant watching and effort to drive them away.
2. Vacant thoughts. The foolish habit of letting thoughts wander as they list, settling nowhere on what is definite or dignified, is a characteristic of the shallow characters represented by the rocky soil. Earnest conviction and the abiding stability which follows it cannot belong to these. Well is it when each can say, "I hate vain thoughts, but thy Law do I love.
3. Anxious thoughts. The cares of this world" (Ver. 19) are destructive of the serenity and rest which Christ"s true disciples should always rejoice in. Therefore our Lord so urgently warns us against them. (Mat_6:25-34) St. Paul says, "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God," and then "the peace of God... shall keep your hearts.
4. Adverse thoughts. The lusts of other things "so absorb some that their minds are like a soil full of growing thorns. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Judas Iscariot was a terrible example of this. It would be useless to point out such perils as these if it were not that our hearts are not like the soil, which is destitute of will, of effort, and of a voice to cry to Heaven. Our condition largely depends upon our choice, or rather on the prayer which is the outcome of it; so that it is not in vain that we have guarded ourselves against the perils which beset the seed. From them let us turn to consider
II THE PROGRESS WHICH AWAITS THE SEED in various hearts.
1. Swiftly gone, devoured by the birds, i.e. dissipated or destroyed by other thoughts. Warn against the flippancy and worldliness of much conversation in Christian homes on the Lord"s day, and point out the injury which young people may thus receive.
2. Springing soon, withering soon. This is specially seen in sentimental natures. There is a shallowness in thought and experience from which we should earnestly pray for deliverance. It is well when such underlying rock is broken up by the plough of affliction.
3. Growing, not fruit-bearing. This is the condition of many professed Christians, whose homes witness to unconquered tempers and whose Churches mourn unattempted service.
4. Producing fruit and increase. All do not bring forth the same fruit, either in kind or in degree. Still we see the "thirtyfold," the "sixty-fold," and the hundredfold," according to the gift and capacity of each. God only expects of us according to that which we have, and not according to that which we have not. The different talents entrusted to the servants (Matthew 25) remind us of this; yet that every one of them could win the reward of him who had been "good and faithful." Allude to various examples of fruit-bearing among Christians, e.g. the quiet ministrations in the home, of which no one outside it hears; the steadfast adherence to Christian principle when slight swerving from it would bring an advantage, which as a keen man he is quick to see, but as a devout man is swift to spurn; the privilege of writing words which go forth to unseen multitudes, stirring in them loftier thoughts of God and of his Word and works; the pleasantness of the gentle girl who at school or at home thinks of every one before herself; the influence of the brave lad whose wholesome tongue is a tree of life," etc. Each of these bears fruit, and that fruit is the new seed from which future harvests spring. A.R.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.