Jesus Feeds More Than 5000^(A)

³⁰ The apostles Jesus had sent out came back to him. They gathered around him and told him about all they had done and taught. ³¹ Jesus and his followers were in a very busy place. There were so many people that he and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we will get some rest.”

³² So Jesus and his followers went away alone. They went in a boat to a place where no one lived. ³³ But many people saw them leave and knew who they were. So people from every town ran to the place where they were going and got there before Jesus. ³⁴ As Jesus stepped out of the boat, he saw a large crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd to care for them. So he taught the people many things.

³⁵ It was now very late in the day. Jesus’ followers came to him and said, “No one lives around here, and it is already very late. ³⁶ So send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat.”

³⁷ But Jesus answered, “You give them some food to eat.”

They said to Jesus, “We can’t buy enough bread to feed all these people. We would all have to work a month to earn enough to buy that much bread!”

³⁸ Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see.”

They counted their loaves of bread. They came to Jesus and said, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “Tell everyone to sit in groups on the green grass.” ⁴⁰ So all the people sat in groups. There were about 50 or 100 people in each group.

⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to the sky and thanked God for the food. Then he broke the bread into pieces, which he gave to his followers to distribute to the people. Then he divided the two fish among everyone there.

⁴² They all ate until they were full. ⁴³ After they finished eating, the followers filled twelve baskets with the pieces of bread and fish that were left. ⁴⁴ There were about 5000 men there who ate.

Jesus Feeds More Than 5000^(A)

¹⁰ When the apostles came back, they told Jesus what they had done on their trip. Then he took them away to a town called Bethsaida. There, he and his apostles could be alone together. ¹¹ But the people learned where Jesus went and followed him. He welcomed them and talked with them about God’s kingdom. He healed the people who were sick.

¹² Late in the afternoon, the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. Send the people away. They need to find food and places to sleep in the farms and towns around here.”

¹³ But Jesus said to the apostles, “You give them something to eat.”

They said, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you want us to go buy food for all these people?” There are too many! ¹⁴ (There were about 5000 men there.)

Jesus said to his followers, “Tell the people to sit in groups of about 50 people.”

¹⁵ So the followers did this and everyone sat down. ¹⁶ Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish. He looked up into the sky and thanked God for the food. Then he broke it into pieces, which he gave to the followers to give to the people. ¹⁷ They all ate until they were full. And there was a lot of food left. Twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of food that were not eaten.

Jesus Feeds More Than 5000^(A)

6 Later, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberias). ² A great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he did in healing the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the side of the hill and sat there with his followers. ⁴ It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover festival.

⁵ Jesus looked up and saw a crowd of people coming toward him. He said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked Philip this question to test him. Jesus already knew what he planned to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “We would all have to work a month to buy enough bread for each person here to have only a little piece!”

⁸ Another follower there was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew said, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But that is not enough for so many people.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Tell everyone to sit down.” This was a place with a lot of grass, and about 5000 men sat down there. ¹¹ Jesus took the loaves of bread and gave thanks for them. Then he gave them to the people who were waiting to eat. He did the same with the fish. He gave them as much as they wanted.

¹² They all had plenty to eat. When they finished, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the pieces of fish and bread that were not eaten. Don’t waste anything.” ¹³ So they gathered up the pieces that were left. The people had started eating with only five loaves of barley bread. But the followers filled twelve large baskets with the pieces of food that were left.

¹⁴ The people saw this miraculous sign that Jesus did and said, “He must be the Prophet^[a] who is coming into the world.”