<P> The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a parable of Jesus found in the three Synoptic Gospels in Matthew 13: 1 - 23, Mark 4: 1 - 20, and Luke 8: 1 - 15 . In the story, a sower sows seed; some seed falls on the path (way side), on rocky ground and among thorns, and it is lost, but when it falls on good earth it grows, yielding thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold . </P> <P> Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up . And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away . And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit . And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred . And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear . </P> <P> The explanation given by Jesus: </P>

What does the seed stand for in the parable of the sower