4:8a

Still: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as Still is the common conjunction that is usually translated as “and” (as in the Revised Standard Version). There is a difference between what happened to the other seeds and what happened to the seeds in this verse. Therefore, the Good News Bible translates the connection here as “but.” Introduce what happened to these seeds in the way that is natural in your language.

other seed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as other refers to the fourth and final group of seeds. Because of this, the Berean Standard Bible added the word seed because it is natural here in English.

If you have been using a plural form like “seeds” in this parable, you should continue to do so here.

fell: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fell is the same verb as in 4:4b, 4:5a, and 4:7a. See the notes there.

good soil: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as good in this context refers to the kind of soil in which plants grow well.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

rich soil
-or-
healthy soil
-or-
fertile soil

4:8b–c

where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.”: The four verbs that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sprouted, grew up, produced, and bearing describe various stages in the life of the plants. In some languages, it may be more natural to describe only two or three stages. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

the plants grew and produced thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as was scattered

4:8b

it sprouted: The clause it sprouted refers to the seeds beginning to grow in the good soil. The New International Version has:

the plants came up

grew up: The words grew up refer to plants maturing and becoming taller.

and produced a crop: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as produced a crop here means “bore grain” (as in the Good News Bible). The grain was ready for harvest, so the Berean Standard Bible uses the word crop. The NET Bible has:

produced grain

4:8c

bearing: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as bearing refers to what plants do when they produce fruit or grain.

Here are some other ways to translate it:

giving
-or-
yielding

thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold: The words thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold refer to the amount of new grain that the mature plants produced. Some plants produced heads of grain that had thirty seeds. Other plants produced heads that had sixty seeds. Some plants produced heads with a hundred seeds.

Each of these numbers represented remarkably good harvests of various sizes. If this is not clear to your readers, you may want to indicate that these numbers are relative. The actual numbers are not important. For example:

such as thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times
-or-
for example thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times

You may also want to add a footnote. For example:

All of these were extremely good harvests. The average amount that people harvested in the provinces of Galilee and Judea at that time was ten seeds for every seed that was sown.

If your language does not use numbers in this way, here are some other translation options:

• Use numerals or number words from the major language in the area. For example:

such as 30, 60, or even 100 times

• Use descriptive words instead of numbers. For example:

a great harvest, an amazing harvest, and an unbelievable harvest

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