Mark 4:31

Bible in Basic English (1941)

It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is put in the earth, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth,

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ὡς κόκκῳ σινάπεως, ὃς, ὅταν σπαρῇ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, μικρότερος πάντων τῶν σπερμάτων ἐστὶν τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς:

Transliteration

As a kokkō sinapeōs, which, hotan sparē epi the gēs, mikroteros pantōn tōn spermatōn estin those epi the gēs:

Grammar Details

• *kokkō*: dative, masculine, singular - grain/seed
• *sinapeōs*: genitive, neuter, singular - mustard
• *hotan*: conjunction - when/whenever
• *sparē*: aorist passive subjunctive, 3rd person singular - it might be sown
• *epi*: preposition + genitive - upon
• *gēs*: genitive, feminine, singular - earth/ground
• *mikroteros*: nominative, masculine, singular, comparative - smaller
• *pantōn*: genitive, neuter, plural - all
• *spermatōn*: genitive, neuter, plural - seeds
• *estin*: present active indicative, 3rd person singular - it is

Word Meanings

• *kokkō*: grain/seed/kernel
• *sinapeōs*: mustard plant
• *sparē*: it might be sown/planted
• *gēs*: earth/ground/soil
• *mikroteros*: smaller/lesser
• *spermatōn*: seeds/grains

Referenced Verses

• Gen 22:17-18 : 17 That I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside; your seed will take the land of those who are against them; 18 And your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth, because you have done what I gave you orders to do.
• Ps 72:16-19 : 16 May there be wide-stretching fields of grain in the land, shaking on the top of the mountains, full of fruit like Lebanon: may its stems be unnumbered like the grass of the earth. 17 May his name go on for ever, as long as the sun: may men be blessing themselves by him; may all nations be blessing his name. 18 Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, the only doer of wonders. 19 Praise to the glory of his noble name for ever; let all the earth be full of his glory. So be it, So be it.
• Isa 2:2-3 : 2 And it will come about in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and all nations will come to it. 3 And the peoples will say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will give us knowledge of his ways, and we will be guided by his word; for out of Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
• Isa 9:7 : 7 Of the increase of his rule and of peace there will be no end, on the seat of David, and in his kingdom; to make it strong, supporting it with wise decision and righteousness, now and for ever. By the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
• Isa 49:6-7 : 6 It is not enough for one who is my servant to put the tribes of Jacob again in their place, and to get back those of Israel who have been sent away: my purpose is to give you as a light to the nations, so that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth. 7 The Lord who takes up Israel's cause, even his Holy One, says to him whom men make sport of, who is hated by the nations, a servant of rulers: Kings will see and get up from their places, and chiefs will give worship: because of the Lord who keeps faith; even the Holy One of Israel who has taken you for himself.
• Isa 53:2 : 2 For his growth was like that of a delicate plant before him, and like a root out of a dry place: he had no grace of form, to give us pleasure;
• Isa 53:12-54:3 : 12 For this cause he will have a heritage with the great, and he will have a part in the goods of war with the strong, because he gave up his life, and was numbered with the evil-doers; taking on himself the sins of the people, and making prayer for the wrongdoers. 1 Let your voice be loud in song, O woman without children; make melody and sounds of joy, you who did not give birth: for the children of her who had no husband are more than those of the married wife, says the Lord. 2 Make wide the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your house be stretched out without limit: make your cords long, and your tent-pins strong. 3 For I will make wide your limits on the right hand and on the left; and your seed will take the nations for a heritage, and make the waste towns full of people.
• Isa 60:22 : 22 The smallest of their families will become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I, the Lord, will make it come quickly in its time.
• Ezek 17:22-24 : 22 This is what the Lord has said: Further, I will take the highest top of the cedar and put it in the earth; cutting off from the highest of his young branches a soft one, I will have it planted on a high and great mountain; 23 It will be planted on the high mountain of Israel: it will put out branches and have fruit and be a fair cedar: under it all birds of every sort will make their living-place, resting in the shade of its branches. 24 And it will be clear to all the trees of the field that I the Lord have made low the high tree and made high the low tree, drying up the green tree and making the dry tree full of growth; I the Lord have said it and have done it.
• Dan 2:34-35 : 34 While you were looking at it, a stone was cut out, but not by hands, and it gave the image a blow on its feet, which were of iron and earth, and they were broken in bits. 35 Then the iron and the earth, the brass and the silver and the gold, were smashed together, and became like the dust on the floors where grain is crushed in summer; and the wind took them away so that no sign of them was to be seen: and the stone which gave the image a blow became a great mountain, covering all the earth.
• Dan 2:44-45 : 44 And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will put up a kingdom which will never come to destruction, and its power will never be given into the hands of another people, and all these kingdoms will be broken and overcome by it, but it will keep its place for ever. 45 Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that by it the iron and the brass and the earth and the silver and the gold were broken to bits, a great God has given the king knowledge of what is to take place in the future: the dream is fixed, and its sense is certain.
• Amos 9:11-15 : 11 In that day I will put up the tent of David which has come down, and make good its broken places; and I will put up again his damaged walls, building it up as in the past; 12 So that the rest of Edom may be their heritage, and all the nations who have been named by my name, says the Lord, who is doing this. 13 See, the days will come, says the Lord, when the ploughman will overtake him who is cutting the grain, and the crusher of the grapes him who is planting seed; and sweet wine will be dropping from the mountains, and the hills will be turned into streams of wine. 14 And I will let the fate of my people Israel be changed, and they will be building up again the waste towns and living in them; they will again be planting vine-gardens and taking the wine for their drink; and they will make gardens and get the fruit of them. 15 And I will have them planted in their land, and never again will they be uprooted from their land which I have given them, says the Lord your God.
• Mic 4:1-2 : 1 But in the last days it will come about that the mountain of the Lord's house will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and peoples will be flowing to it. 2 And a number of nations will go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will give us knowledge of his ways and we will be guided by his word: for from Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
• Zech 2:11 : 11 Ho! Zion, go in flight from danger, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.
• Zech 8:20-23 : 20 This is what the Lord of armies has said: It will again come about that when peoples and those living in great towns come, 21 And the people of one town go to another and say, Let us certainly go with a request for grace from the Lord, and to give worship to the Lord of armies, then I will go with you. 22 And great peoples and strong nations will come to give worship to the Lord of armies in Jerusalem and to make requests for grace from the Lord. 23 This is what the Lord of armies has said: In those days, ten men from all the languages of the nations will put out their hands and take a grip of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for it has come to our ears that God is with you.
• Zech 12:8 : 8 In that day the Lord will be a cover over the people of Jerusalem; and he who is feeble among them in that day will be as strong as David, and the family of David will be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
• Zech 14:6-9 : 6 And in that day there will be no heat or cold or ice; 7 And it will be unbroken day, such as the Lord has knowledge of, without change of day and night, and even at nightfall it will be light. 8 And on that day living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them flowing to the sea on the east and half to the sea on the west: in summer and in winter it will be so. 9 And the Lord will be King over all the earth: in that day there will be one Lord and his name one.
• Mal 1:11 : 11 For, from the coming up of the sun till its going down, my name is great among the Gentiles; and in every place the smell of burning flesh is offered to my name, and a clean offering: for my name is great among the Gentiles, says the Lord of armies.
• Matt 13:31-33 : 31 He put another story before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his field: 32 Which is smaller than all seeds; but when it has come up it is greater than the plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and make their resting-places in its branches. 33 Another story he gave to them: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and put in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.
• Luke 13:18-19 : 18 Then he said, What is the kingdom of God like? what comparison may I make of it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his garden, and it became a tree, and the birds of heaven made their resting-places in its branches.
• Acts 2:41 : 41 Then those who gave hearing to his words had baptism: and about three thousand souls were joined to them that day.
• Acts 4:4 : 4 But a number of those who gave hearing to the word had faith; and they were now about five thousand.
• Acts 5:14 : 14 And a great number of men and women had faith, and were joined to the Lord;
• Acts 19:20 : 20 So the word of the Lord was increased very greatly and was full of power.
• Acts 21:20 : 20 And hearing it, they gave praise to God; and they said to him, You see, brother, what thousands there are among the Jews, who have the faith; and they all have a great respect for the law:
• Rev 11:15 : 15 And at the sounding of the seventh angel there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he will have rule for ever and ever.
• Rev 20:1-6 : 1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the great deep and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he took the dragon, the old snake, which is the Evil One and Satan, and put chains on him for a thousand years, 3 And put him into the great deep, and it was shut and locked over him, so that he might put the nations in error no longer, till the thousand years were ended: after this he will be let loose for a little time. 4 And I saw high seats, and they were seated on them, and the right of judging was given to them: and I saw the souls of those who were put to death for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and those who did not give worship to the beast, or to his image, and had not his mark on their brows or on their hands; and they were living and ruling with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life again till the thousand years were ended. This is the first coming back from the dead. 6 Happy and holy is he who has a part in this first coming: over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will be ruling with him a thousand years.