Jesus Feeds More Than 5000^(A)

¹³ When Jesus heard what happened to John, he left in a boat. He went alone to a place where no one lived. But the people heard that Jesus had left. So they left their towns and followed him. They went by land to the same place he went. ¹⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd of people. He felt sorry for them, and he healed the ones who were sick.

¹⁵ Late that afternoon, the followers came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the towns and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ Jesus said, “The people don’t need to go away. You give them some food to eat.”

¹⁷ The followers answered, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ Jesus said, “Bring the bread and the fish to me.” ¹⁹ Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. He looked into the sky and thanked God for the food. Then he broke the bread into pieces, which he gave to the followers, and they gave the food to the people. ²⁰ Everyone ate until they were full. When they finished eating, the followers filled twelve baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. ²¹ There were about 5000 men there who ate. There were also women and children 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.”