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.”

¹⁵ Jesus knew that the people planned to come get him and make him their king. So he left and went into the hills alone.

Jesus Walks on Water^(B)

¹⁶ That evening Jesus’ followers went down to the lake. ¹⁷ It was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come back to them. They got into a boat and started going across the lake to Capernaum. ¹⁸ The wind was blowing very hard. The waves on the lake were becoming bigger. ¹⁹ They rowed the boat about three or four miles.^[b] Then they saw Jesus. He was walking on the water, coming to the boat. They were afraid. ²⁰ But he said to them, “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” ²¹ When he said this, they were glad to take him into the boat. And then the boat reached the shore at the place they wanted to go.