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)

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.