Exegesis:

en parabolais (cf. 3.23) ‘in parables,’ ‘by means of parables.’

polla ‘many things’ (adjectival), not adverbial ‘much’ (cf. 1.45; 3.12).

en tē didachē autou (cf. 1.22) ‘in his teaching,’ i.e. ‘as he taught’: the sense of didachē here is active ‘the act of teaching’ and not passive ‘the thing taught,’ ‘doctrine.’

akouete. idou ‘listen! (impv.) look!’ (cf. 1.2). The second word simply strengthens the note of urgency and demand in the first, and need not be translated literally (cf. Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, and the majority of English translations which omit it).

ho speirōn ‘the sower,’ ‘the man who sows’ (4.14): the present participle of the verb is to be taken as an active noun.

speirō (4.4, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 31, 32) ‘sow’ – only in this chapter, in Mark. The infinitive speirai ‘to sow’ indicates purpose: ‘the sower went out in order to sow.’ It should be noticed that the method employed in sowing was that of scattering the seed over the soil, as the sower walked through the field, and not that of dropping each seed individually into a hole previously dug in the ground for that purpose.

Translation:

For parables see 3.23.

In his teaching may be rendered ‘as he was teaching them,’ in order to emphasize the active process, not the passive content of the teaching.

In many regions of the world this parable causes almost unbelievable difficulty because the method of sowing is not understood. For example, in a great many parts of the world the common process of sowing involves the use of a dibble stick by which a hole is made in prepared soil and in this hole a number of grains are dropped, after which the hole is carefully covered up and the soil sometimes tamped. The idea that a sower would be so utterly profligate as to throw seed broadcast is sometimes interpreted as a sure sign of incurable laziness or even of insanity. The reader then judges that for some of the seed to be lost to the birds, choked by weeds, or ruined by sprouting too soon in shallow soil is only to be expected in view of such an incredibly stupid method of sowing. On the other hand, it is impossible to change the method of sowing as spoken of in this parable, for the parable itself is not understandable except in terms of such a procedure. The only thing that one can do is to make certain that one does indicate that this was broadcast sowing ‘scattering the seed on plowed ground’ (or ‘prepared ground’), ‘to sow-scatter,’ used of upland rice (Amganad Ifugao), and ‘to plant by throwing’ (Highland Oaxaca Chontal). This is much better than implying that the sower was so utterly lacking in judgment that he would have used a dibble stick on stony ground or in a path.

Fundamentally, the translator is confronted by three types of meaning: syntactic (the meanings of grammatical constructions), lexical (the meanings of individual words and phrases), and cultural. The first two he must deal with in terms of the closest natural equivalent (the meanings of concepts within a cultural framework). The latter can only be treated in commentaries, or at best through necessary marginal notes. What he must avoid, however, is deciding upon syntactic and lexical solutions which will make cultural meanings more difficult.

It is not necessary to repeat the lexical items ‘sower’ and ‘sow.’ If this would be stylistically awkward in a receptor language, one may say only ‘a man went out to sow.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .