The Feeding of the Five Thousand^(A)

¹³ When Jesus heard this, He departed from there by boat for a deserted place. But when the people heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ Jesus went ashore and saw a great assembly. And He was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a lonely place and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to depart. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ They said to Him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to His disciples; and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ They all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. ²¹ Those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand^(A)

³⁰ The apostles met with Jesus and told him everything, both what they had done and what they had taught. ³¹ Then He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest a while,” for many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

³² So they went into a remote place privately by boat. ³³ But the people saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot out of every city. They arrived first and came together to Him. ³⁴ When Jesus came out and saw many people, He was moved with compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

³⁵ When the day was now getting late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place, and now the time is passing. ³⁶ Send them away into the surrounding country and villages to buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.”

³⁷ But He answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii^[a] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

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

When they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹ Then He commanded them to make everyone sit down by companies on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. ⁴¹ When He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them. And He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were filled. ⁴³ And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments and of the fish. ⁴⁴ Those who ate of the loaves were about five thousand men.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand^(A)

¹⁰ When the apostles returned, they told Jesus all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. ¹¹ But when the crowds knew it, they followed Him. And He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.

¹² When the day began to end, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the crowds away, so they can go into the towns and surrounding countryside and lodge and get food. For we are in a deserted place here.”

¹³ He said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ There were about five thousand men.

But He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” ¹⁵ They did so, and made them all sit down. ¹⁶ Then 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 to set before the crowd. ¹⁷ They all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of broken pieces that remained were collected.