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)

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.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand^(A)

6 After these things Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ² And a great crowd followed Him, because they saw His signs which He did for the sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountain, and He sat there with His disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming to Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.

⁷ Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii^[a] worth of bread is not sufficient for each of them to receive but a little.”

⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are they among so many?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, numbering about five thousand. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down; and likewise, they distributed the fish, as much as they wanted.

¹² When they were filled, He told His disciples, “Collect the fragments that remain, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When those men saw the sign which He had done, they then said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”