Matthew 13:5

Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jesus continues his parable of the sower, narrating how scattered seed lands on different ground types before the sun scorches the sprouts.

The words — ἔπεσεν (epesen) means "fell," and πετρώδη (petrōdē) denotes "rocky places," specifying the exact location where the seed encounters shallow soil.

The thread — The text records seed landing on rocky ground in Matthew 13:5, while Ezekiel 36:26, Ezekiel 11:19, and Zechariah 7:12 use stone imagery to describe resistant human hearts.

Why it lands — The passage states that shallow soil causes rapid sprouting but leaves the plant without depth, requiring a reader to distinguish between immediate growth and sustained endurance.

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

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

Cross-references

Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,
Zechariah 7:12 They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.
Amos 6:12 “Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
Matthew 13:20 The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.