Feeding of the Five Thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard about it,^(A) he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When he went ashore,^[a] he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.^(B)

¹⁵ When evening came, the disciples^(C) approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late.^[b] Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to him.

¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he said. 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 them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.^{(D) 20} Everyone ate and was satisfied. They picked up twelve baskets full of leftover pieces.^{(E) 21} Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

³² So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, ³³ but many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.^[a]

³⁴ When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion^(A) on them, because they were like sheep^(B) without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.

³⁵ When it grew late, his disciples^(C) approached him and said, “This place is deserted,^(D) and it is already late. ³⁶ Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ “You give them something to eat,” he responded.

They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii^[b] worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸ He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² Everyone ate and was satisfied.^{(E) 43} They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

⁵ So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him,^(A) he asked Philip,^(B) “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” ⁶ He asked this to test him,^(C) for he himself knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii^[a](D) worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.”

⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew,^(E) Simon^(F) Peter’s^(G) brother, said to him, ⁹ “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”

There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand.^{(H) 11} Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.^(I)

¹² When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.”^{(J) 13} So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.