Five Thousand Men Fed

6 After these things ^(A)Jesus went away to the other side of ^(B)the Sea of Galilee (or ^(C)Tiberias). ² A large crowd was following Him, because they were watching the ^[a](D)signs which He was performing on those who were sick. ³ But ^(E)Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. ⁴ Now ^(F)the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵ So Jesus, after raising His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to ^(G)Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?” ⁶ But He was saying this only to ^(H)test him, for He Himself knew what He intended to do. ^7 (I)Philip answered Him, “^(J)Two hundred ^[b]denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, for each to receive just a little!” ⁸ One of His ^(K)disciples, ^(L)Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two ^(M)fish; but what are these for so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people recline to eat.” Now there was ^(N)plenty of grass in the place. So the men reclined, about ^[c](O)five thousand in number. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and ^(P)after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were reclining; likewise also of the ^(Q)fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² And when they had eaten their fill, He *said to His ^(R)disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and filled twelve ^(S)baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

Five Thousand Men Fed

^13 (A)Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the ^[a]people heard about this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When He came ^[b]ashore, He ^(B)saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and ^(C)healed their sick.

¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is secluded and the hour is already past to eat; send the crowds away, so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go; you give them something to eat!” ¹⁷ They *said to Him, “We have nothing here except ^(D)five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ And ordering the crowds to ^[c]sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looked up toward heaven. He ^(E)blessed the food and breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces: twelve full ^(F)baskets. ²¹ There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

^32 (A)And they went away in ^(B)the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Five Thousand Men Fed

³³ The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus went ^[a]ashore, He ^(C)saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because ^(D)they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ And when it was already late, His disciples came up to Him and said, “^[b]This place is secluded and it is already late; ³⁶ send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves ^[c]something to eat.” ³⁷ But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” ^(E)And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred ^[d](F)denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ But He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ And He ordered them all to recline by groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(G)blessed the food and broke the loaves and He gave them to the disciples again and again to set before them; and He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And they all ate and were satisfied; ⁴³ and they picked up twelve full ^(H)baskets of the broken pieces of bread, and of the fish. ⁴⁴ There were ^(I)five thousand ^[e]men who ate the loaves.

^10 (A)When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. ^(B)And taking them with Him, He withdrew privately to a city called ^(C)Bethsaida. ¹¹ But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and He welcomed them and began speaking to them about the kingdom of God, and curing those who had need of healing.

Five Thousand Men Fed

¹² Now the day ^[a]was ending, and the twelve came up and said to Him, “Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get ^[b]something to eat; because here, we are in a secluded place.” ¹³ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ (For there were about five thousand men.) But He said to His disciples, “Have them recline to eat ^(D)in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did so, and had them all recline. ¹⁶ And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He blessed them and broke them, and gave them to the disciples again and again, to serve the crowd. ¹⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied; and ^[c]the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve ^(E)baskets full.