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Mark 4:32
ESV yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."
NIV Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade."
NASB yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and forms large branches, with the result that THE BIRDS OF THE SKY can NEST UNDER its shade.'
CSB And when sown, it comes up and grows taller than all the garden plants, and produces large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade."
NLT but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.'
KJV But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.
NKJV but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

What does Mark 4:32 mean?

The mustard seed is not the smallest seed in all of existence, but at one to two millimeters, it was the smallest seed the Jews planted in their gardens at the time of Christ. It grows quickly into bushes nine feet tall and, if left to its own devices, becomes an impenetrable thicket.

The reference to the birds that shelter in the mustard sounds random, although poetic. But Jesus is referring back to Old Testament prophecy in which birds that nest in trees represent representatives of different nations who find protection in powerful leaders. In Ezekiel 31:2–6, that leader is Pharaoh; in Daniel 4:20–22, it's Nebuchadnezzar; while in Ezekiel 17:23, it is God. The first few chapters of Acts bear witness to what is essentially Jesus' prophecy. In Acts 1:15, right after Jesus ascension, about 120 people in Jerusalem claim to be Christ-followers. The Holy Spirit comes, and Peter preaches to a crowd of Jews from all over the Roman Empire (Acts 2). Three thousand from among the crowd ask to be baptized (Acts 2:41). Before long, five thousand men and an unnamed number of women are saved (Acts 4:4).

This massive growth isn't the result of Peter and John's great teaching, but of the Holy Spirit working in hearts (Mark 4:26–29). Peter and John are merely faithful to Jesus' command to teach what they had been taught.
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