⁵ A man went out to put in seed, and while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside and it was crushed under foot, and was taken by the birds of heaven.

²³ Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a glass;

²⁴ For after looking at himself he goes away, and in a short time he has no memory of what he was like.

¹ For this reason there is the more need for us to give attention to the things which have come to our ears, for fear that by chance we might be slipping away.

¹¹ Now this is the point of the story: The seed is the word of God.

¹² Those by the side of the road are those who have given hearing; then the Evil One comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not have faith and get salvation.

²⁶ And he said, Such is the kingdom of God, as if a man put seed in the earth,

²⁷ And went to sleep and got up, night and day, and the seed came to growth, though he had no idea how.

²⁸ The earth gives fruit by herself; first the leaf, then the head, then the full grain.

²⁹ But when the grain is ready, he quickly sends men to get it cut, because the time for cutting has come.

¹⁵ And these are they by the wayside, where the word is planted; and when they have given ear, the Evil One comes straight away and takes away the word which has been planted in them.

² And he gave them teaching about a number of things in the form of stories, and said to them in his teaching, Give ear:

³ A man went out to put seed in the earth:

⁴ And while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took it for food.

³⁷ And he made answer and said, He who puts the good seed in the earth is the Son of man;

²⁴ And he gave them another story, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who put good seed in his field:

²⁵ But while men were sleeping, one who had hate for him came and put evil seeds among the grain, and went away.

²⁶ But when the green stem came up and gave fruit, the evil plants were seen at the same time.

¹⁸ Give ear, then, to the story of the man who put the seed in the earth.

¹⁹ When the word of the kingdom comes to anyone, and the sense of it is not clear to him, then the Evil One comes, and quickly takes away that which was put in his heart. He is the seed dropped by the wayside.

³ And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, A man went out to put seed in the earth;

⁴ And while he did so, some seeds were dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took them for food:

¹³ You are the salt of the earth; but if its taste goes from the salt, how will you make it salt again? it is then good for nothing but to be put out and crushed under foot by men.

¹¹⁸ You have overcome all those who are wandering from your rules; for all their thoughts are false.

¹¹ And evil birds came down on the bodies, but Abram sent them away.