Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand^(A)

¹³ When Jesus heard about John, he left in a boat and went to a place where he could be alone. The crowds heard about this and followed him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and cured their sick people.

¹⁵ In the evening the disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. Send the crowds to the villages to buy food for themselves.”

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

¹⁷ They told him, “All we have here are five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ Jesus said, “Bring them to me.”

¹⁹ Then he ordered the people to sit down on the grass. After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart, gave them to the disciples, and they gave them to the people. ²⁰ All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.

²¹ About five thousand men had eaten. (This number does not include the women and children who had eaten.)

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand^(A)

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus. They reported to him everything they had done and taught. ³¹ So he said to them, “Let’s go to a place where we can be alone to rest for a while.” Many people were coming and going, and Jesus and the apostles didn’t even have a chance to eat.

³² So they went away in a boat to a place where they could be alone. ³³ But many people saw them leave and recognized them. The people ran from all the cities and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd and felt sorry for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. So he spent a lot of time teaching them.

³⁵ When it was late, his disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. ³⁶ Send the people to the closest farms and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “Should we go and spend about a year’s wages on bread to feed them?”

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

When they found out, they told him, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹ Then he ordered all of them to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹ After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the people. He also gave pieces of the two fish to everyone. ⁴² All of them ate as much as they wanted. ⁴³ When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets with bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were 5,000 men who had eaten the bread.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand^(A)

¹⁰ The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He took them with him to a city called Bethsaida so that they could be alone. ¹¹ But the crowds found out about this and followed him. He welcomed them, talked to them about God’s kingdom, and cured those who were sick.

¹² Toward the end of the day, the twelve apostles came to him. They said to him, “Send the crowd to the closest villages and farms so that they can find some food and a place to stay. No one lives around here.”

¹³ Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish. Unless we go to buy food for all these people, that’s all we have.” ¹⁴ (There were about five thousand men.)

Then he told his disciples, “Have them sit in groups of about fifty.” ¹⁵ So they did this.

¹⁶ Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the crowd. ¹⁷ All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.