MARK 4:27 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Whether the person sleeps at night or stays up night and day, the seed will sprout and grow either way, and they don’t know how it does it.

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, red:negative.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT and he sleeps and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.

UST During a period of many days, those seeds started to grow. The farmer did not really know how they grew.

BSB Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, [though] he knows not how.

BLB and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow--he not knows how.

AICNT And he sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, as he does not know.

OEB and then sleeps by night and rises by day, while the seed is shooting up and growing – he knows not how.

WEBBE and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, though he doesn’t know how.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

LSV and may sleep, and may rise night and day, and the seed springs up and grows, he has not known how;

FBV “He goes to bed and gets up, day after day, but the man has no knowledge of how the seeds sprout and grow.

TCNT He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he does not know how.

T4T Afterwards he slept each night and rose each day without worrying about the seeds. During that time the seeds sprouted and grew in a way that he did not understand, because by itself the soil caused the plants to grow and produce grain.

LEB And he sleeps and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—_⌊he does not know how_⌋.[fn]

4:27 Literally “in such a way as he does not know”

BBE And went to sleep and got up, night and day, and the seed came to growth, though he had no idea how.

Moff he sleeps at night and rises by day, and the seed sprouts and shoots up — he knows not how.

Wymth he spends days and nights, now awake, now asleep, while the seed sprouts and grows tall, he knows not how.

ASV and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how.

DRA And should sleep, and rise, night and day, and the seed should spring, and grow up whilst he knoweth not.

YLT and may sleep, and may rise night and day, and the seed spring up and grow, he hath not known how;

Drby and should sleep and rise up night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he does not know how.

RV and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how.
(and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth/knows not how. )

SLT And he sleep, and should rise night and day, and the seed should sprout, and be raised; how, he knows not.

Wbstr And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

KJB-1769 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
( And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth/knows not how. )

KJB-1611 And should sleepe, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring, and grow vp, he knoweth not how.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps And shoulde slepe, and ryse vp nyght and day, and the seede shoulde spryng & growe vp, he knoweth not howe.
(And should sleep, and rise up night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth/knows not how.)

Gnva And shoulde sleepe, and rise vp night and day, and the seede should spring and growe vp, he not knowing howe.
(And should sleep, and rise up night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he not knowing how. )

Cvdl and slepeth, and stondeth vp night and daye, and the sede spryngeth vp, & groweth, he not knowinge of it.
(and sleepeth/sleeps, and standeth/stands up night and day, and the seed springeth/springs up, and groweth, he not knowing of it.)

TNT and shulde slepe and ryse vp night and daye: and the seede shuld springe and growe vp he not ware.
(and should sleep and rise up night and day: and the seed should spring and grow up he not ware. )

Wycl and he sleepe, and it rise up niyt and dai, and brynge forth seede, and wexe faste, while he woot not.
(and he sleep, and it rise up night and day, and bring forth seed, and wax/grow fast, while he know not.)

Luth und schläft und stehet auf Nacht und Tag, und der Same gehet auf und wächset, daß er‘s nicht weiß.
(and sleeps and stands on/in/to night and day, and the/of_the seed goes on/in/to and grows, that he's not white.)

ClVg et dormiat, et exsurgat nocte et die, et semen germinet, et increscat dum nescit ille.
(and sleep, and rises at_night and day, and seed sprout, and it_grows while doesn't_know he/that_one. )

UGNT καὶ καθεύδῃ καὶ ἐγείρηται, νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ σπόρος βλαστᾷ καὶ μηκύνηται— ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός.
(kai katheudaʸ kai egeiraʸtai, nukta kai haʸmeran, kai ho sporos blasta kai maʸkunaʸtai— hōs ouk oiden autos.)

SBL-GNT καὶ καθεύδῃ καὶ ἐγείρηται νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ σπόρος ⸀βλαστᾷ καὶ μηκύνηται ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός.
(kai katheudaʸ kai egeiraʸtai nukta kai haʸmeran, kai ho sporos ⸀blasta kai maʸkunaʸtai hōs ouk oiden autos.)

RP-GNT καὶ καθεύδῃ καὶ ἐγείρηται νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ σπόρος βλαστάνῃ καὶ μηκύνηται ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός.
(kai katheudaʸ kai egeiraʸtai nukta kai haʸmeran, kai ho sporos blastanaʸ kai maʸkunaʸtai hōs ouk oiden autos.)

TC-GNT καὶ καθεύδῃ καὶ ἐγείρηται νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ ὁ σπόρος [fn]βλαστάνῃ καὶ μηκύνηται ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός.
(kai katheudaʸ kai egeiraʸtai nukta kai haʸmeran, kai ho sporos blastanaʸ kai maʸkunaʸtai hōs ouk oiden autos. )

4:27 βλαστανη ¦ βλαστα CT

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 4:26–29: Jesus told the parable of the sprouting seeds

This parable compares the kingdom of God to seeds. Seeds are planted, they sprout and grow and produce their own seeds (4:27–29a). The man who planted the seeds expects all this to happen but does not know how it happens (4:27c, 29b–c). In the same way, the followers of Jesus will grow in number and spiritual maturity, but people outside of the kingdom of God do not know how that happens. The identity of the man in the parable is not a part of the teaching of the parable. The man should not be compared to God in your translation.

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The parable of the sprouting seeds

Jesus compared the kingdom of God to plants growing from seeds to harvest

There are no direct parallel passages for this section. Some similar terms are used in Matthew 13:24–30.

4:27a

Night and day he sleeps and wakes,

He sleeps each night and does his activities each day, while
While he is asleep and while he is awake, as both night and day come and go,

Night and day he sleeps and wakes: The Greek expression that the BSB translates as Night and day he sleeps and wakes is literally: “he might sleep and rise, night and day.” This expression indicates that many days pass. It also indicates that the seeds sprout and grow while the farmer sleeps and while he is awake.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up (NIV11)

He sleeps at night, is up and about during the day, and all the while (GNT)

then going to bed each night and getting up every morning, while (JBP)

While he is asleep and while he is awake, as both night and day pass…

4:27b

and the seed sprouts and grows,

the seeds sprout and grow;
the seeds become shoots and grow.

sprouts: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as sprouts refers to the way seeds become plants. Use the proper expression in your language.

4:27c

though he knows not how.

but he does not know how that/it happens.
Yet he has no idea of how they become plants and grow.

though: The word though means “despite the fact that.”

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

Yet (GNT)

but (NCV)

although (GW)

he knows not how: The phrase he knows not how means that the man has no knowledge about the way a seed becomes a plant and grows.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

he has no idea how it happens (JBP)

he is ignorant about the way they become plants and grow

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

καθεύδῃ καὶ ἐγείρηται, νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν

˱he˲_˓may_be˒_sleeping (Some words not found in SR-GNT: καί καθεύδῃ καί ἐγείρηται νύκτα καί ἡμέραν καί ὁ σπόρος βλαστᾷ καί μηκύνηται ὡς οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτός)

Here Jesus means that the farmer sleeps at night and gets up when it is day. This indicates that the farmer lives a normal life and does what he normally does over a period of many days. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable phrase or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [he sleeps at night and gets up in the morning each day] or [he lives a normal life over the next days]

Note 2 topic: grammar-collectivenouns

ὁ σπόρος

the seed

See how you translated the seed in [4:26](../04/26.md). Alternate translation: [the seeds]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ὡς

how

Here Jesus implies that the farmer does not understand the process by which the seed sprouts and grows. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make that idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [how the seed does that] or [the way in which that happens]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / rpronouns

αὐτός

Jesus uses the word himself to emphasize how significant it was that the farmer does not know. Use a way that is natural in your language to indicate this significance. Alternate translation: [he indeed]

Parallel MARK 4:27

Section 4:26–29: Jesus told the parable of the sprouting seeds

4:27a

4:27b

4:27c