A.T. Robertson Commentary Luke 8:4

"And when a great multitude came together, and they of every city resorted unto him, he spake by a parable:" — Luke 8:4 (ASV)

By a parable (δια παραβολης). Mr 4:2 says "in parables" as does Mt 13:3. This is the beginning of the first great group of parables as given in Mr 4:1-34 and Mt 13:1-53. There are ten of these parables in Mark and Matthew and only two in Lu 8:4-18 (The Sower and the Lamp, 8:16) though Luke also has the expression "in parables" (8:10). See Mt 13 and Mr 4 for discussion of the word parable and the details of the Parable of the Sower. Luke does not locate the place, but he mentions the great crowds on hand, while both Mark and Matthew name the seaside as the place where Jesus was at the start of the series of parables.