Mark 4:7

7 And other [seed] fell among the thorn plants, and the thorn plants came up and choked it, and it did not produce grain.

Mark 4:7 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 4:7

And some fell among thorns
The word was ministered to some who were eat up with the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and other lusts:

and the thorns grew up, and choked it;
the word did not take place so as to beat down, overcome, and root out these things, nor even to weaken, and keep under, and prevent the influence of them; but these got the ascendant of the word, and prevailed over it, and made it altogether useless and unsuccessful: for whilst it was administered, the minds of these persons were after their riches and worldly things, and gave no heed to the word; and last were prevailed upon, not to attend upon it, but drop the profession of it:

and it yielded no fruit;
it was not the means of grace; faith did not come by it, nor any other grace; nor did it produce good works in the life and conversation.

Mark 4:7 In-Context

5 And other [seed] fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up at once, because it did not have [any] depth of soil.

6 And when the sun rose it was scorched, and because it did not have [enough] root, it withered.

7 And other [seed] fell among the thorn plants, and the thorn plants came up and choked it, and it did not produce grain.

8 And other [seed] fell on the good soil, and produced grain, coming up and increasing, and it bore [a crop]--one thirty and one sixty and one a hundred [times as much].

9 And he said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "fruit," describing here the grain harvested from the healthy plants; in contemporary English this would more naturally be expressed by terms like "grain" or "crop"