Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand^(A)

¹³ When Jesus heard about John, he left in a boat and went to a place where he could be alone. The crowds heard about this and followed him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and cured their sick people.

¹⁵ In the evening the disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. Send the crowds to the villages to buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ They told him, “All we have here are five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ Jesus said, “Bring them to me.”

¹⁹ Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart, gave them to the disciples, and they gave them to the people. ²⁰ All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.

²¹ About five thousand men had eaten. (This number does not include the women and children who had eaten.)

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand^(A)

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus. They reported to him everything they had done and taught. ³¹ So he said to them, “Let’s go to a place where we can be alone to rest for a while.” Many people were coming and going, and Jesus and the apostles didn’t even have a chance to eat.

³² So they went away in a boat to a place where they could be alone. ³³ But many people saw them leave and recognized them. The people ran from all the cities and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd and felt sorry for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. So he spent a lot of time teaching them.

³⁵ When it was late, his disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. ³⁶ Send the people to the closest farms and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “Should we go and spend about a year’s wages on bread to feed them?”

³⁸ He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out, they told him, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹ Then he ordered all of them to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹ After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the people. He also gave pieces of the two fish to everyone. ⁴² All of them ate as much as they wanted. ⁴³ When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets with bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were 5,000 men who had eaten the bread.

Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand^(A)

6 Jesus later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. ³ Jesus went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. ⁴ The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.

⁵ As Jesus saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ Jesus asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

⁸ One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, ⁹ “A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”

The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)

¹¹ Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.

¹² When the people were full, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” ¹³ The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miracle Jesus performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.”