NIrV Kids' Quest Study Bible NIrV Kids' Quest Study Bible Sampler | Page 7

MARK 4
his ­house. 28  What I’m a ­ bout to tell you
is true. Ev­ery­one’s sins and evil ­words
against God will be for­giv­en. 29  But who­
ev­er ­speaks evil ­things a ­ gainst the Holy
Spir­it will nev­er be for­giv­en. ­Their ­guilt
will last for­ev­er.”
30  ­Jesus said this be­cause the teach­ers
of the law were say­ing, “He has an evil
spir­it.”
JESUS’ MOTHER AND BROTHERS
31  ­
Jesus’ moth­er and broth­ers came
and ­
stood out­
side. They sent some­
one in to get him. 32  A ­crowd was sit­
ting ­around ­Jesus. They told him, “Your
moth­er and your broth­ers are out­side.
They are look­ing for you.”
33  “Who is my moth­
er? Who are my
broth­ers?” he ­asked.
34  Then ­
Jesus l ­ ooked at the peo­
ple sit­ting in a cir­cle ­around him. He
said, “Here is my moth­er! Here are my
broth­ers! 35  Any­one who does what God
wants is my broth­er or sis­ter or moth­er.”
THE STORY OF THE FARMER
Again ­Jesus be­gan to t ­ each by the
Sea of Gal­
i­
lee. The ­
crowd that
gath­
ered ­
around him was very
large. So he got into a boat. He sat down
in it out on the lake. All the peo­ple were
along the ­shore at the wa­ter’s edge. 2  He
taught them many t ­ hings us­
­
ing sto­
ries. In his teach­ing he said, 3  “Lis­ten! A
farm­er went out to ­plant his seed. 4  He
scat­tered the seed on the ­ground. Some
fell on a path. B
­ irds came and ate it up.
5  Some seed fell on r ­ ocky plac­es, w
­ here
there ­wasn’t much soil. The p
­ lants came
up quick­ly, be­cause the soil ­wasn’t deep.
6  When the sun came up, it ­burned the
plants. They ­dried up be­cause they had
no ­roots. 7  Oth­er seed fell ­among ­thorns.
The ­thorns grew up and crowd­ed out
the ­plants. So the p
­ lants did not bear
grain. 8  ­Still oth­er seed fell on good soil.
It grew up and pro­duced a crop 30, 60,
or even 100 ­times more than the farm­er
plant­ed.”
9  Then ­Jesus said, “Who­ev­er has ears
should lis­ten.”
10  Lat­er ­Jesus was ­alone. The 12 dis­ci­
ples ­asked him ­about the sto­ries. So did
the oth­ers ­around him. 11  He told them,
“The se­cret of ­God’s king­dom has been
giv­en to you. But to out­sid­ers ev­ery­thing
is told us­ing sto­ries. 12  In that way,
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“ ‘They will see but never know
what they are seeing.
They will hear but never
understand.
Otherwise they might turn and be
forgiven!’ ” (Isaiah 6:9,10)
13  Then ­
Jesus said to them, “­
Don’t
you un­der­stand this sto­ry? Then how
will you un­der­stand any sto­ries of this
­ lants is
kind? 14  The seed the farm­er p
God’s mes­sage. 15  What is seed scat­tered
on a path like? The mes­sage is plant­ed.
The peo­ple hear the mes­sage. Then Sa­
tan ­comes. He ­takes away the mes­sage
that was plant­ed in them. 16  And what
is seed scat­tered on r ­ ocky plac­es like?
The peo­ple hear the mes­sage. At once
they re­ceive it with joy. 17  But they have
no ­roots. So they last only a ­short time.
They quick­ly fall away from the f ­ aith
when trou­
ble or suf­
fer­
ing c ­ omes be­
cause of the mes­sage. 18  And what is
seed scat­tered a ­ mong t ­ horns like? The
peo­ple hear the mes­sage. 19  But then the
wor­ries of this life come to them. ­Wealth
comes with its f ­ alse prom­is­es. The peo­
ple also long for oth­er ­things. All of ­these
are the ­kinds of t ­ hings that c ­ rowd out
the mes­sage. They keep it from pro­duc­
ing ­fruit. 20  And what is seed scat­tered
on good soil like? The peo­ple hear the
mes­sage. They ac­cept it. They pro­duce
a good crop 30, 60, or even 100 t ­ imes
more than the farm­er plant­ed.”
A LAMP ON A STAND
21  ­Jesus said to them, “Do you b
­ ring
in a lamp to put it un­der a l ­ arge bowl
or a bed? ­Don’t you put it on its ­stand?
22  What is hid­den is m
­ eant to be seen.
And what is put out of s ­ ight is m
­ eant to
be ­brought out into the open. 23  Who­
ev­er has ears ­should lis­ten.”
24  “­Think care­ful­ly ­about what you
hear,” he said. “As you give, so you will
re­ceive. In fact, you will re­ceive even
more. 25  Who­ev­er has some­thing will be
giv­en more. Who­ev­er has noth­ing, even
what they have will be tak­en away from
them.”
THE STORY OF THE GROWING
SEED
26  ­Jesus also said, “Here is what ­God’s
king­dom is like. A farm­er scat­ters seed
Night and day the
on the ­
ground. 27  ­