Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹³ Now when Jesus heard this, ^(A)he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When he went ashore he ^(B)saw a great crowd, and ^(C)he had compassion on them and healed their sick. ¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; ^(D)send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ But Jesus said, “They need not go away; ^(E)you give them something to eat.” ¹⁷ They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, ^(F)he looked up to heaven and ^(G)said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Water

^22 (H)Immediately he ^(I)made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³ And after he had dismissed the crowds, ^(J)he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When ^(K)evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but the boat by this time was a long way^[a] from the land,^[b] beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. ²⁵ And ^(L)in the fourth watch of the night^[c] he came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, ^(M)they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^(N)“Take heart; it is I. ^(O)Do not be afraid.”

²⁸ And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and ^(P)walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind,^[d] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ^(Q)“Lord, save me.” ³¹ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ^(R)“O you of little faith, why did you ^(S)doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, ^(T)the wind ceased. ³³ And ^(U)those in the boat ^(V)worshiped him, saying, ^(W)“Truly you are ^(X)the Son of God.”

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and ^(C)Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, ^(D)with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

^2 (E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

^3 (F)Blessed be the ^(G)God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and ^(H)God of all comfort, ^4 (I)who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in ^(J)Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.^{[a] 6 (K)}If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you ^(L)share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[b] of ^(M)the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us ^(N)rely not on ourselves ^(O)but on God ^(P)who raises the dead. ^10 (Q)He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. ^(R)On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ^11 (S)You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf ^(T)for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul's Change of Plans

¹² For our boast is this, ^(U)the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity^[c] and ^(V)godly sincerity, ^(W)not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. ¹³ For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— ¹⁴ just as you did ^(X)partially understand us—that ^(Y)on the day of our Lord Jesus ^(Z)you will boast of us as ^(AA)we will boast of you.

¹⁵ Because I was sure of this, ^(AB)I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ^(AC)a second ^(AD)experience of grace. ¹⁶ I wanted to visit you ^(AE)on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans ^(AF)according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? ¹⁸ As surely as ^(AG)God is faithful, ^(AH)our word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹ For ^(AI)the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, ^(AJ)Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but ^(AK)in him it is always Yes. ²⁰ For ^(AL)all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our ^(AM)Amen to God for his glory. ²¹ And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and ^(AN)has anointed us, ²² and who has also ^(AO)put his seal on us and ^(AP)given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.^[d]