The Feeding of the Five Thousand ^(A)

¹³ When Jesus heard that John had been killed, He went from there by boat to a desert. He wanted to be alone. When the people knew it, they followed after Him by land from the cities. ¹⁴ When He got out of the boat, He saw many people. He had loving-pity for them and healed those who were sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, His followers came to Him. They said, “This is a desert. The day is past. Send the people away so they may go into the towns and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to them, “They do not have to go away. Give them something to eat.” ¹⁷ They said to Him, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish.” ¹⁸ Jesus said, “Bring them to Me.” ¹⁹ He told the people to sit down on the grass. Then He took the five loaves of bread and two fish. He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. He broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to His followers. The followers gave them to the people. ²⁰ They all ate and were filled. They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish after the people were finished eating. ²¹ About five thousand men ate. Women and children ate also.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand ^(A)

³⁰ The followers of Jesus came back to Him. They told Jesus all they had done and taught. ³¹ He said to them, “Come away from the people. Be by yourselves and rest.” There were many people coming and going. They had had no time even to eat. ³² They went by themselves in a boat to a desert. ³³ Many people saw them leave and knew who they were. People ran fast from all the cities and got there first. ³⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, He saw many people gathered together. He had loving-pity for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. He began to teach them many things.

³⁵ The day was almost gone. The followers of Jesus came to Him. They said, “This is a desert. It is getting late. ³⁶ Tell the people to go to the towns and villages and buy food for themselves.” ³⁷ He said to them, “Give them something to eat.” They said to Him, “Are we to go and buy many loaves of bread and give it to them?” ³⁸ He said to them, “How many loaves of bread do you have here? Go and see.” When they knew, they said, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.” ³⁹ Then He told them to have all the people sit down together in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of fifty people and in groups of one hundred people. ⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish. He looked up to heaven and gave thanks. He broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to the followers to set before the people. He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were filled. ⁴³ After that the followers picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ About five thousand men ate the bread.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand ^(A)

6 After this Jesus went over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It is sometimes called Tiberias. ² Many people followed Him. They saw the powerful works He did on those who were sick. ³ Jesus went up on a mountain and sat down with His followers. ⁴ The special religious supper to remember how the Jews left Egypt was soon.

⁵ Jesus looked up and saw many people coming to Him. He said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” ⁶ He said this to see what Philip would say. Jesus knew what He would do. ⁷ Philip said to Him, “The money we have is not enough to buy bread to give each one a little.”

⁸ One of His followers was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He said to Jesus, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish. What is that for so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was much grass in that place. About five thousand men sat down.

¹¹ Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks. Then He gave the bread to those who were sitting down. The fish were given out the same way. The people had as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were filled, Jesus said to His followers, “Gather up the pieces that are left. None will be wasted.” ¹³ The followers gathered the pieces together. Twelve baskets were filled with pieces of barley bread. These were left after all the people had eaten.

¹⁴ The people saw the powerful work Jesus had done. They said, “It is true! This is the One Who speaks for God Who is to come into the world.”