Mark 4:3

Mark 4:3, in plain English

He began, 'Listen! A farmer went out to plant his seeds.'

Why it's here

Jesus started with one word: Listen. Because the whole point of this parable is about how you hear—whether God's message really gets through to you or not.

Who's speaking

Jesus opens His most famous parable with a call to pay attention.

Where it sits in the story

Before He told the story, He said one word: Listen. It was both an instruction and a test. How you hear this story reveals something about your own heart.

The scholarly reading

Jesus opened with 'Listen!' (akouete)—a command for attentive hearing—then introduced the parable: 'A farmer (ho speirōn) went out to sow (speirai).'

Language and setting

The imperative akouete ('Listen!') frames the entire parable discourse, and the theme of hearing/listening will dominate the interpretation. The sower is broadcasting seed by hand, the standard agricultural method.

Voice

Jesus begins the Parable of the Sower with a call to attentive listening.

Significance

The opening command to 'Listen!' was not mere throat-clearing but a programmatic instruction: the entire parable is about different qualities of hearing, and those who truly listen will understand.

1Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore.

2And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said,

3“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.

4And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

5Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow.

Read all of Mark 4 — Jesus teaches about seeds that fall on different soils, then proves his authority by silencing a storm with a single command.