Mark 4:26

Plain English Version

Jesus kept on teaching. He said, “I want you to know how God’s family grows. This is another picture story. A man wanted to grow some seed food, so he threw some seeds on the ground in his garden. Then that man walked away and left the seeds there. Those seeds grew all by themselves in that ground, and that man didn’t know what made those seeds grow. He just left them there for a few months, and they grew. At first the long stick part grew, and after that, the head part grew with all the seeds inside it. Then, when the seeds were ready, that man cut those plants down and picked up the seed food. God is boss for everyone, and his family will grow just like the plants in that story.”

Cross References

Matthew 13:24

Then Jesus told the people another picture story. He said, “This story shows you something about God’s family. A farmer planted some good food seeds in his garden.

Matthew 3:2

He said, “Listen. God is going to show everyone how they can be in his family. So you have to stop doing bad things. You have to turn around and live God’s way.”

Matthew 4:17

Then Jesus started to tell everybody, “Listen. God is going to show everyone how they can be in his family. So you have to stop doing bad things. You have to turn around and live God’s way.”

John 12:24

Listen carefully to this picture story. A wheat seed has to fall into the ground and die, so that it can make a big mob of new seeds. If it never dies, and if it never gets buried, it will never make new seeds. You see, I will die like the seed in that picture story.

James 3:18

Whenever somebody teaches people to live the right way, like that, those other people stop fighting each other, and they start to be good to each other.