^13 (A)When Jesus heard of it, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns. ¹⁴ When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ [Jesus] said to them, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” ¹⁷ But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” ¹⁸ Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” ¹⁹ and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking^[a] the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over^[b]—twelve wicker baskets full. ²¹ Those who ate were about five thousand men, not counting women and children.

The Walking on the Water.^[c]

^32 (A)Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.” ³³ The disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” ³⁵ He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. ³⁶ Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks,^[a] broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. ^37 (B)They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over—seven baskets full. ³⁸ Those who ate were four thousand men, not counting women and children.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand. ³⁴ When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. ^35 [a]By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. ³⁶ Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” ³⁷ He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.” ³⁹ So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. ^40 [b]The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. ⁴¹ Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to [his] disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all.^{[c] 42} They all ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. ⁴⁴ Those who ate [of the loaves] were five thousand men.

The Walking on the Water.^[d]

Chapter 8

The Feeding of the Four Thousand.^{[a] 1} In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,^(A) he summoned the disciples and said, ² “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a great distance.” ⁴ His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” ⁵ Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied. ^6 [b]He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. ⁷ They also had a few fish. He said the blessing over them and ordered them distributed also. ⁸ They ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over—seven baskets. ⁹ There were about four thousand people.

He dismissed them

¹⁰ When the apostles returned, they explained to him what they had done. He took them and withdrew in private to a town called Bethsaida. ¹¹ The crowds, meanwhile, learned of this and followed him. He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. ¹² As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” ^13 (A)He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of [about] fifty.” ¹⁵ They did so and made them all sit down. ¹⁶ Then taking^[a] the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.^{(B) 17} They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.

Peter’s Confession About Jesus.^[b]

Chapter 6

Multiplication of the Loaves.^{[a] 1 (A)}After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee [of Tiberias].^{[b] 2} A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish feast of Passover was near.^{(B) 5 [c]}When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip,^(C) “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” ^6 [d]He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages^[e] worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little [bit].”^{(D) 8} One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves^[f] and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”^{(E) 10} Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass^[g] in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.^{(F) 11} Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted.^{(G) 12} When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” ¹³ So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets^[h] with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.