Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Mark 4:1

CHAPTER 4

Mr 4:1-34. Parable of the Sower--Reason for Teaching in Parables--Parables of the Seed Growing We Know Not How, and of the Mustard Seed. ( = Mt 13:1-23, 31, 32; Lu 8:4-18).

1. And he began again to teach by the seaside: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude--or, according to another well-supported reading, "a mighty" or "immense multitude."

so that he entered into a ship--rather, "the ship," meaning the one mentioned in Mr 3:9. (See on Mt 12:15).

and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land--crowded on the seashore to listen to Him. (See on Mt 13:1, 2.)