More than Five Thousand Fed^(A)

6 After this, Jesus went ·across [to the other side of] ·Lake [^Tthe Sea of] Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias). ² Many people followed him because they saw the ·miracles [^Lsigns; 2:11] he did ·to heal [^Lfor; on behalf of] the sick. ³ Jesus went up on a ·hill [or mountain] and sat down there with his ·followers [disciples]. ⁴ It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover Feast [^Cthe annual festival that celebrates God’s rescue of Israel from Egypt; Ex. 12; John 2:13].

⁵ When Jesus ·looked up [^Lraised his eyes] and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip [^Cone of the twelve disciples; 1:43], “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?” ⁶ (Jesus asked Philip this question to test him, because Jesus already knew what he ·planned [was going] to do.)

⁷ Philip answered [^Lhim], “·Someone would have to work almost a year to buy enough bread [^LTwo hundred denarii worth of bread is not enough; ^Ca denarius was a unit of money worth about a day’s wages] for each person to have only a little piece.”

⁸ Another one of his ·followers [disciples], Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish, but ·that is not enough [^Lwhat are these…?] for so many people.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “·Tell [^LMake] the people to sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, and about five thousand men sat down there. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves of bread, ·thanked God [^Lgave thanks] for them, and ·gave [distributed] them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, giving as much as the people wanted.

¹² When they ·had all had enough to eat [^Lwere filled/satisfied], Jesus said to his ·followers [disciples], “Gather the leftover ·pieces of fish and bread [^Lpieces] so that nothing is wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left from the five barley loaves [2 Kin. 4:42–44; ^CJesus’ miracle surpasses that of Elisha].

¹⁴ When the people saw this ·miracle [^Lsign] that Jesus did, they said, “He must truly be the Prophet [1:21; ^Cprobably the “prophet like Moses” of Deut. 18:15–18] who is coming into the world.”

¹⁵ Jesus knew that the people ·planned [intended; were about] to come and take him by force and make him their king, so he ·left [withdrew] and went into the ·hills [or mountains] alone.