Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech: Mark | Page 4

a family splits into parties,
that family cannot continue. 003:026 So if Satan has risen in arms and
has made war upon himself, stand he cannot, but meets his end.
003:027 Nay, no one can go into a strong man's house and carry off his
property, unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder
his house. 003:028 In solemn truth I tell you that all their sins may be
pardoned to the sons of men, and all their blasphemies, however they
may have blasphemed; 003:029 but whoever blasphemes against the
Holy Spirit, he remains for ever unabsolved: he is guilty of a sin of the
Ages." 003:030 This was because they said, "He is possessed by a foul
spirit." 003:031 By this time His mother and His brothers arrive, and
standing outside they send a message to Him to call Him. 003:032 Now
a crowd was sitting round Him; so they tell Him, "Your mother and
your brothers and sisters are outside, inquiring for you." 003:033 "Who
are my mother and my brothers?" He replied. 003:034 And, fixing His
eyes on the people who were sitting round Him in a circle, He said,
003:035 "Here are my mother and my brothers. For wherever there is
one who has been obedient to God, there is my brother-- my sister--and
my mother." 004:001 Once more He began to teach by the side of the
Lake, and a vast multitude of people came together to listen to Him. He
therefore went on board the boat and sat there, a little way from the
land; and all the people were on the shore close to the water. 004:002
Then He proceeded to teach them many lessons in figurative language;
and in His teaching He said, 004:003 "Listen: the sower goes out to
sow. 004:004 As he sows, some of the seed falls by the way-side, and
the birds come and peck it up. 004:005 Some falls on the rocky ground
where it finds but little earth, and it shoots up quickly because it has no
depth of soil; 004:006 but when the sun is risen, it is scorched, and
through having no root it withers away. 004:007 Some, again, falls
among the thorns; and the thorns spring up and stifle it, so that it yields
no crop. 004:008 But some of the seed falls into good ground, and
gives a return: it comes up and increases, and yields thirty, sixty, or a
hundred-fold." 004:009 "Listen," He added, "every one who has ears to
listen with!" 004:010 When He was alone, the Twelve and the others
who were about Him requested Him to explain His figurative language.
004:011 "To you," He replied, "has been entrusted the secret truth

concerning the Kingdom of God; but to those others outside your
number all this is spoken in figurative language; 004:012 that "`They
may look and look but not see, and listen and listen but not understand,
lest perchance they should return and be pardoned.'" 004:013 "Do you
all miss the meaning of this parable?" He added; "how then will you
understand the rest of my parables?" 004:014 "What the sower sows is
the Message. 004:015 Those who receive the seed by the way-side are
those in whom the Message is sown, but, when they have heard it,
Satan comes at once and carries away the Message sown in them.
004:016 In the same way those who receive the seed on the rocky
places are those who, when they have heard the Message, at once
accept it joyfully, 004:017 but they have no root within them. They last
for a time; then, when suffering or persecution comes because of the
Message, they are immediately overthrown. 004:018 Others there are
who receive the seed among the thorns: these are they who have heard
the Message, 004:019 but worldly cares and the deceitfulness of wealth
and the excessive pursuit of other objects come in and stifle the
Message, and it becomes unfruitful. 004:020 Those, on the other hand,
who have received the seed on the good ground, are all who hear the
Message and welcome it, and yield a return of thirty, sixty, or a
hundred fold." 004:021 He went on to say, "Is the lamp brought in in
order to be put under the bushel or under the bed? Is it not rather in
order that it may be placed on the lampstand? 004:022 Why, there is
nothing hidden except with a view to its being ultimately disclosed, nor
has anything been made a secret but that it may at last come to light.
004:023 Listen, every one who has ears to listen with!" 004:024 He
also said to them, "Take care what you hear. With what measure you
measure, it will be measured to you,