But other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

The ¹  seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth ²  choke the word, ³  so it produces nothing.

Other seed fell on rocky ground ¹  where it did not have much soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. ² 

nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ¹ 

Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become ¹  Pharaoh’s slaves. ²  Give us seed that we may live ³  and not die. Then the land will not become desolate.” ⁴ 

“Be sure of this, ¹  the time is ²  coming,” says the Lord, “when the plowman will catch up to the reaper ³  and the one who stomps the grapes ⁴  will overtake ⁵  the planter. ⁶  Juice will run down the slopes, ⁷  it will flow down all the hillsides. ⁸ 

‘for there will be a peaceful time of sowing, the vine will produce its fruit and the ground its yield, and the skies ¹  will rain down dew. Then I will allow the remnant of my people to possess all these things.

But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.” ¹ 

Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed,

But ¹  other seed fell on good soil and grew, ²  and it produced a hundred times as much grain.” ³  As he said this, ⁴  he called out, “The one who has ears to hear had better listen!” ⁵ 

Because you have obeyed me, ¹  all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ²  using the name of your descendants.’”

But his master answered, ¹  ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter?

As for the seed that ¹  fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but ²  as they go on their way they are choked ³  by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, ⁴  and their fruit does not mature. ⁵ 

But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing ¹  the word, cling to it ²  with an honest and good ³  heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance. ⁴ 

I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ²  But if it dies, it produces ³  much grain. ⁴ 

You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, ¹  saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants ²  all the nations ³  of the earth will be blessed.’ ⁴ 

But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”

When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ¹  because the Lord blessed him. ² 

Can you count on ¹  it to bring in ²  your grain, ³  and gather the grain ⁴  to your threshing floor? ⁵ 

I will give him an eternal dynasty, ¹  and make his throne as enduring as the skies above. ²