Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

6 After this, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he was performing on those who were sick. ³ Jesus went up on the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ But Jesus was saying this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii^[a] worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to have just a little.”

⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹ “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that for so many people?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. There were about five thousand men.

¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, he distributed pieces to those who were seated. He also did the same with the fish—as much as they wanted.

¹² When the people were full, he told his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miraculous sign Jesus did, they said, “This really is the Prophet who is coming into the world.”

Jesus Walks on Water

¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they intended to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ A strong wind started to blow, and the sea became rough.

¹⁹ After they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea toward their boat, and they were afraid.

²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid!”

²¹ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

Bread From Heaven

²² The next day, the crowd that stayed on the other side of the sea noticed that only one boat^[b] was there. They also knew that Jesus had not stepped into the boat with his disciples, but they had gone away without him. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias came to shore near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴ When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

²⁸ So they said to him, “What should we do to carry out the works of God?”

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.”

³⁰ Then they asked him, “So what miraculous sign are you going to do, that we may see it and believe you? What miraculous sign are you going to perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”^[c]

³² Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the real bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said to him, “give us this bread all the time!”

³⁵ “I am the Bread of Life,” Jesus told them. “The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have also seen me, and you do not believe. ³⁷ Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me, but raise them up on the Last Day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the Last Day.”

⁴¹ So the Jews started grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? So how can he say,^[d] ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’^[e] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ I am not saying that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He is the one who has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me^[f] has eternal life.

⁴⁸ “I am the Bread of Life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his^[g] flesh to eat?”

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like your^[h] fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹ He said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. ⁶⁰ When they heard it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching! Who can listen to it?”

⁶¹ But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this cause you to stumble in your faith? ⁶² What if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh does not help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning those who would not believe and the one who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is given to him by my Father.”

⁶⁶ After this, many of his disciples turned back and were not walking with him anymore. ⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”^[i]

⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹ He meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, because Judas was going to betray Jesus.