Matthew 13:7
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. The thorny soil that produces growth alongside competing plants: the word is received and begins to grow, but the thorns — identified in verse 22 as the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches — grow up alongside and choke the developing plant. The thorny-ground person is not shallow (like the rocky ground) but divided: the word and the world compete for the same soil, and the thorns prove stronger.