Mark 4:33

Amplified Bible

With many such parables, Jesus spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear and understand it;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He was speaking the word to them with many parables like these, as they were able to understand.

King James Version (1611)
And with many such parables spake hee the word vnto them, as they were able to heare it.

King James Version
And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.

English Standard Version
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

New American Standard Bible
And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to understand it;

New Century Version
Jesus used many stories like these to teach the crowd God's message—as much as they could understand.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it;

Legacy Standard Bible
And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

Berean Standard Bible
With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand.

Contemporary English Version
Jesus used many other stories when he spoke to the people, and he taught them as much as they could understand.

Complete Jewish Bible
With many parables like these he spoke the message to them, to the extent that they were capable of hearing it.

Darby Translation
And with many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear,

Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus used many stories like these to teach the people. He taught them all they could understand.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And with many such parables he preached the word vnto them, as they were able to heare it.

George Lamsa Translation
Jesus talked to them with parables as these, such parables as they were able to hear.

Good News Translation
Jesus preached his message to the people, using many other parables like these; he told them as much as they could understand.

Lexham English Bible
And with many parables such as these he was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

Literal Translation
And with many such parables He spoke the Word to them, even as they were able to hear.

American Standard Version
And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it;

Bible in Basic English
And with a number of such stories he gave them his teaching, as they were able to take it:

Hebrew Names Version
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

International Standard Version
With many other parables like these Jesushe">[fn] kept speaking the word to them according to their ability to understand them.Matthew 13:34; John 16:12;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
In parables such as these spake Jeshu with them, in parables such as they could hear.

Murdock Translation
And by many such similitudes, similitudes such as they could hear, Jesus discoursed with the people.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And with many such parables preached he the worde vnto them, as they were able to heare it.

English Revised Version
And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it:

World English Bible
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And with many such parables spake he the word to them, as they were able to hear.

Weymouth's New Testament
With many such parables He used to speak the Message to them according to their capacity for receiving it.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And in many suche parablis he spak to hem the word, as thei myyten here;

Update Bible Version
And with many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

Webster's Bible Translation
And with many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear [it].

New English Translation
So with many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear.

New King James Version
And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it.

New Living Translation
Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand.

New Life Bible
As they were able to understand, He spoke the Word to them by using many picture-stories.

New Revised Standard
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, with many such parables as these, was he speaking unto them the word, - according as they were able to hear;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And with many such parables, he spoke to them the word, according as they were able to hear.

Revised Standard Version
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And with many soche similitudes he preached the worde vnto the after as they myght heare it.

Young's Literal Translation
And with many such similes he was speaking to them the word, as they were able to hear,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And by many soch parables he spake the worde vnto the, there after as they might heare it,

Mace New Testament (1729)
Thus he instructed them by such a variety of parables as were adapted to their capacity.

THE MESSAGE
With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity. He was never without a story when he spoke. When he was alone with his disciples, he went over everything, sorting out the tangles, untying the knots.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus used a lot of stories like these in his clinics.

Contextual Overview

²¹He said to them, "A lamp is not brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Is it not [brought in] to be put on the lampstand? ²²"For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been kept secret, but that it would come to light [that is, things are hidden only temporarily, until the appropriate time comes for them to be known]. ²³"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words." ²⁴Then He said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear. By your own standard of measurement [that is, to the extent that you study spiritual truth and apply godly wisdom] it will be measured to you [and you will be given even greater ability to respond]—and more will be given to you besides. ²⁵"For whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a yearning for truth], even what he has will be taken away from him." ²⁶Then He said, "The kingdom of God is like a man who throws seed on the ground; ²⁷and he goes to bed at night and gets up every day, and [in the meantime] the seed sprouts and grows; how [it does this], he does not know. ²⁸"The earth produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head [of grain], then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹"But when the crop ripens, he immediately puts in the sickle [to reap], because [the time for] the harvest has come." ³⁰And He said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use to illustrate and explain it?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

with: Matthew 13:34, Matthew 13:35

as: John 16:12, 1 Corinthians 3:1, 1 Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:11-14

Reciprocal: Genesis 33:14 - be able Ezekiel 17:2 - General Matthew 13:10 - Why Matthew 13:53 - he Matthew 22:1 - General Mark 12:1 - he began 2 Timothy 2:15 - rightly

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And with many such parables,.... As those of the tares, of the leaven in three measures of meal, of the treasure hid in the field, the pearl of great price, the net cast into the sea, and of the Scribe instructed unto the kingdom of God; which though not related at length here, are by the Evangelist Matthew, in

Matthew 13:24 together with others elsewhere:

spake he the word unto them; preached the Gospel to the multitude,

as they were able to hear it: meaning either that he condescended to their weakness, accommodated himself to their capacities, and made use of the plainest similes; and took his comparison from things in nature, the most known and obvious, that what he intended might more easily be understood; or rather, he spoke the word to them in parables, as they were able to hear, without understanding them; and in such a manner, on purpose that they might not understand; for had he more clearly expressed the things relating to himself, as the Messiah, and to the Gospel dispensation, so as that they could have took in his meaning, such were their pride, their wickedness, and the rancour of their minds, that they would have at once rose up, and attempted to have destroyed him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Spake he the word - The word of God. The doctrines of his gospel.

As they were able to hear it - As they could comprehend it. They were like children; and he was obliged to lead them along cautiously and by degrees to a full understanding of the plan of salvation.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 33. With many such parables — πολλαις, many, is omitted by L, sixteen others; the Syriac, both the Persic, one Arabic, Coptic, Armenian, AEthiopic, and two of the Itala. Mill approves of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it doubtful. It is probably an interpolation: the text reads better without it.

As they were able to hear — ακουειν, or to understand always suiting his teaching to the capacities of his hearers. I have always found that preacher most useful, who could adapt his phrase to that of the people to whom he preached. Studying different dialects, and forms of speech, among the common people, is a more difficult and a more useful work than the study of dead languages. The one a man should do, and the other he need not leave undone.