Synoptic Gospels Primer - The Sower Allegorized (English)

4. Understanding The Sower
Matt 13:18-23 // Mark 4:13-20 // Luke 8:11-15

EXPLAINING the PARABLE of the SOWER
Matthew 13		Mark 4		Luke 8
		13	And he said to them,
			"Do you not understand
			this parable?	11	Now the parable is this:
			How then
			will you understand
			all the parables?
18	"Hear then				The seed
	the parable of the sower.	14	The sower sows the word.		is the word of God.
		15	And these are the ones	12	The ones
			along the path,*		along the path *
			where the word is sown;
19	When any one hears		when they hear,		are those who have heard;
	the word of the kingdom
	and does not understand it,
	the evil one comes		Satan immediately comes		then the devil comes
	and snatches away		and takes away		and takes away
	what is sown		the word which is sown		the word
	in his heart;		<into> them.**		from their <heart>,
					that they may not
					believe and be saved.
	this is what was sown
	along the path.*
		16	And these in like manner
20	As for what was sown		are the ones sown	13	And the ones
	on rocky ground,		on rocky ground,		on the rock
	this is he		who, when		are those who, when
	who hears the word		they hear the word		they
	and immediately		immediately
	receives it with joy;		receive it with joy;		receive it with joy;
21	yet he has no root	17	and they have no root		but these have no root,
	in himself,		in themselves,
	but endures for a while,		but endure for a while;		they believe for a while
	and when tribulation		then, when tribulation		and in time
	or persecution arises		or persecution arises		of temptation
	on account of the word,		on account of the word,
	immediately		immediately
	he falls away.		they fall away.		fall away.
22	[As for] what was sown	18	And others are the ones sown	14	[As for] what fell
	among thorns,		among thorns;		among the thorns,
	this is he		they are those		they are those
	who hears the word,		who hear the word,		who hear,
					but as they go on their way
					they are choked
	but the cares of the world	19	but the cares of the world,		by the cares
	and the delight in riches		and the delight in riches,		and riches
			and the desire for other things,		and pleasures of life,
			enter in
	choke the word,		and choke the word,
	and it proves unfruitful.		and it proves unfruitful.		and their fruit
					does not mature.
23	[As for] what was sown	20	<And> those that were sown	15	[As for] that
	upon good soil,		upon the good soil		in the good soil,
	this is he		are the ones		they are those who,
	who hears the word		who hear the word		hearing the word,
	and understands it;		and accept it		hold it fast
					in an honest
					and good heart,
	he indeed bears fruit,		and bear fruit,		and bring forth fruit
	and yields,
	in one case a hundredfold,*		thirtyfold
	in another sixty,		and sixtyfold
	and in another thirty."		and a hundredfold."*
					with patience.

* Note: In Greek, as in English, the prepositional phrase "along" the path is located at the beginning of Mark 4:15 // Luke 8:12 while it occurs only at the end of Matt 13:19.

** Note: Early Egyptian codices -- including Sinaiticus & Vaticanus (4th c. CE) -- generally have the prepositional phrase "into them" at the end of Mark 4:15. Most Byzantine texts & codex Bezae, however, read instead: "in their hearts" (plural). Other mss., including a few Egyptian texts like Alexandrinus, also have "their heart(s)" with some preposition other than "into". Which is more likely:

some Egyptian scribe overlooked "heart" in the Markan text & substituted the logicallly awkward preposition "into" for "in"? Or

some Greek scribe "corrected" the wording of Mark 4:15 to read more like Matt 13:19?