Bible Strands
Mark 4:28
All by itself the earth produces a crop—first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his listeners while explaining the parable of the growing seed, placing the agricultural description between the statement of the sower's ignorance in verse 27 and the harvest command in verse 29.
The words — αὐτομέτη (automatē) means "of itself" and καρποφορεῖ (karpophorei) means "brings forth fruit," both describing the earth's autonomous production of the crop.
The thread — The progression of growth and divine timing echoes the call to press on to know the LORD as surely as the sun rises (Hosea 6:3) and parallels the seed imagery used in Mark 4:31.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that the crop develops through a fixed sequence without human orchestration, requiring the reader to acknowledge the limits of control in spiritual growth.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Cross-references
- Philippians 1:9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
- Hosea 6:3 So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.
- Mark 4:31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds sown upon the earth.
- Matthew 13:26 When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.
- Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
- Colossians 1:10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
- 1 Thessalonians 3:12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows,
- Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
- Isaiah 61:11 For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.