⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.^{(A) 5} On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”^[a]

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,^{(B) 7} and in the morning you will see the Lord’s glory because he has heard your complaints about him. For who are we that you complain about us?” ^{(C) 8} Moses continued, “The Lord will give you meat to eat this evening and all the bread you want in the morning, for he has heard the complaints that you are raising against him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.”^(D)

⁹ Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your complaints.’” ¹⁰ As Aaron was speaking to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there in a cloud the Lord’s glory appeared.^(E)

¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

¹³ So at evening quail^(F) came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. ¹⁴ When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was.

Moses told them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.^{(G) 16} This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take two quarts^[b] per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’”

The Fourth Sign: Feeding of the Five Thousand

6 After^(A) this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee^(B) (or Tiberias^(C)). ² A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. ³ Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.

⁴ Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. ⁵ So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him,^(D) he asked Philip,^(E) “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” ⁶ He asked this to test him,^(F) for he himself knew what he was going to do.

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

⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew,^(H) Simon^(I) Peter’s^(J) 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.^{(K) 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.^(L)

¹² When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.”^{(M) 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.

¹⁴ When the people saw the sign^[b] he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet^(N) who is to come^(O) into the world.”^(P)

¹⁵ Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king,^(Q) he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi,^(A) when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw^[a] the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Don’t work for the food that perishes^(B) but for the food that lasts for eternal life,^(C) which the Son of Man^(D) will give you, because God the Father^(E) has set his seal of approval on him.”

²⁸ “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.

²⁹ Jesus replied, “This is the work^(F) of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”^(G)

³⁰ “What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna^(H) in the wilderness,^(I) just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”^[b](J)

³² Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses^(K) didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ “I am^(L) the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me^(M) will ever be hungry,^(N) and no one who believes in me^(O) will ever be thirsty^(P) again. ³⁶ But as I told you, you’ve seen me,^[c] and yet 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.^{(Q) 38} For I have come down from heaven,^(R) not to do my own will, but the will of him^(S) who sent me. ³⁹ This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise^(T) them up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father: ^(U) that everyone who sees the Son^(V) and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise^(W) him up on the last day.”

⁴¹ Therefore the Jews started grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph,^(X) whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘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^[d] him, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ^(Y) And they will all be taught by God.^[e](Z) Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father^(AA) comes to me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father^(AB) except the one who is from God.^(AC) He has seen the Father.^(AD)

⁴⁷ “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes^[f] has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna^(AE) in the wilderness,^(AF) and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die.^{(AG) 51} I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live^(AH) forever.^(AI) The bread that I will give for the life^(AJ) of the world is my flesh.”^(AK)

⁵² At that, the Jews argued^(AL) among themselves,^(AM) “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man^(AN) and drink his blood,^(AO) you do not have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood^(AP) has eternal life, and I will raise^(AQ) him up on the last day, ⁵⁵ because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.^{(AR) 57} Just as the living^(AS) Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live^(AT) because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna^[g] your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”^(AU)

⁵⁹ He said these things while teaching in the synagogue^(AV) in Capernaum.^(AW)