Exegesis:

hōs … balē ‘as though he might throw.’

ballō (cf. 2.22) ‘throw’: here used of scattering seed upon the ground in the process of sowing (cf. 4.3).

sporon (4.26, 27) ‘seed’: used as a synonym for sperma ‘seed’ (4.31).

kai katheudē kai egeirētai ‘and he should sleep and rise’: notice the two present tenses here in contrast with the aorist balē ‘throw.’ ‘Sleep and rise night and day’ means ‘sleep at night and rise by day’ (cf. Moffatt) i.e. the normal routine of daily activities: cf. Lagrange sa vie tranquille.

katheudō (4.38; 5.39; 13.36; 14.37, 40, 41) ‘sleep.’

egeirō ‘rise’: here, rise from sleep (cf. 1.31).

blasta (only here in Mark) ‘it sprouts,’ ‘it buds.’

mēkunētai (only here in Mark) ‘it becomes long’ (from mēkos ‘length’), ‘it grows.’

hōs ouk oiden autos ‘he doesn’t know how’: i.e. the man does not know how this process of germination and growth of the seed he planted takes place.

Translation:

For kingdom of God see 1.15 and 4.11.

Is as if introduces a difficult grammatical construction, which requires some expansion in some languages, e.g. ‘This is how God rules; it is as a man who…’ (Copainalá Zoque).

For scatter seed in the sense of ‘sowing’ see 4.3.

Ground should be ‘prepared soil’ or some other expression denoting the ground for planting, not just thrown on the ground indiscriminately.

The generic seed must often be translated as plural ‘seeds’ or ‘grains’ (Tabasco Chontal).

If one translates literally sleep and rise night and day it may mean as in one language that the person is constantly disturbed night and day while he is sleeping. Many languages require that the sleeping and rising be properly paired with the night and day, e.g. ‘sleep in the night and rise in the day’ (Central Mazahua, Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Chicahuaxtla Triqui, Southern Subanen, Southern Bobo Madaré). However, in some languages one must shift the order of ‘night and day’ to ‘day and night,’ since the ordinary way of speaking of such succession is first to mention the day and then the night (Tetelcingo Nahuatl).

He does not know how must in some instances be expanded because of the implied ellipsis following how, e.g. ‘he does not know this happens’ (or ‘how they grow’), referring to the germination and growing process (Barrow Eskimo; cf. Toraja-Sa’dan and Indonesian ‘but he does not know how the growth goes’).

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 .