Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options Listen to John 6
Close LEB

John 6
Lexham English Bible

The Feeding of Five Thousand

6 After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee (that is, Tiberias). 2 And a large crowd was following him because they were observing the signs that he was doing on those who were sick. 3 So Jesus went up on the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 (Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.) 5 Then Jesus, when he looked up[a] [b] and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people can eat?” 6 (Now he said this to test him, because he knew what he was going to do.) 7 Philip replied to him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for them, in order that each one could receive a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?” 10 Jesus said, “Make the people recline.” (Now there was a lot of grass in the place.) So the men reclined, approximately five thousand in number. 11 Then Jesus took the bread, and after he[c] had given thanks, he distributed it[d] to those who were reclining—likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather the remaining fragments so that nothing is lost.” 13 So they gathered them,[e] and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

14 Now when[f] the people saw the sign that he performed, they began to say,[g] “This one is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Then Jesus, because he[h] knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him[i] king, withdrew again up the mountain by himself alone.

Jesus Walks on the Water

16 Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. 17 And getting into a boat, they began to go[j] to the other side of the sea, to Capernaum. And it had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 And the sea began to be stirred up[k] because[l] a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then when they[m] had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia,[n] they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid. 20 But he said to them, “It is I! Do not be afraid!” 21 So they were wanting to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land to which they were going.

Discourse About the Bread of Life

22 On the next day, the crowd that was on the other side of the sea saw that other boats were not there (except one), and that Jesus had not entered with his disciples into the boat, but his disciples had departed alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after[o] the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

25 And when they[p] found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus replied to them and said, “Truly, truly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were satisfied! 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but the food that remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has set his seal on this one.”

28 So they said to him, “What shall we do that we can accomplish the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one whom that one sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign will you perform, so that we can see it[q] and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[r]

32 Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father is giving 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 So they said to him, “Sir, always give us this bread!”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never be hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty again. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and do not believe. 37 Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never throw out, 38 because I have come down from heaven not that I should do my will, but the will of the one who sent me. 39 Now this is the will of the one who sent me: that everyone whom he has given me, I would not lose any of them,[s] but raise them[t] up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks at the Son and believes in him would have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 Now the Jews began to grumble[u] about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” 42 and they were saying, “Is this one not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves![v] 44 No one is able to 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, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’[w] Everyone who hears from the Father and learns comes to me. 46 (Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God—this one has seen the Father.)[x] 47 Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that someone may eat from it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever.[y] And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 So the Jews began to quarrel[z] among themselves,[aa] saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to 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 true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats[ab] my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so also the one who eats[ac] me—that one will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. The one who eats[ad] this bread will live forever.”[ae]

Many of Jesus’ Disciples Offended by His Teaching

59 He said these things while[af] teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60 Thus many of his disciples, when they[ag] heard it,[ah] said, “This saying is hard! Who can understand it?” 61 But Jesus, because he[ai] knew within himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Does this cause you to be offended? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? 63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “Because of this I said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”

Peter’s Confession

66 For this reason many of his disciples drew back[aj] and were not walking with him any longer. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”[ak] 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 And we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus replied to them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is the devil?” 71 (Now he was speaking about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, because this one—one of the twelve—was going to betray him.)

Footnotes

  1. John 6:5 Literally “then Jesus lifting up the eyes”
  2. John 6:5 *Here “when” in the translation is supplied as a component of the participle “lifting up” which is understood as temporal
  3. John 6:11 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had given thanks”) which is understood as temporal
  4. John 6:11 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  5. John 6:13 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  6. John 6:14 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“saw”) which is understood as temporal
  7. John 6:14 *The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to say”)
  8. John 6:15 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“knew”) which is understood as causal
  9. John 6:15 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  10. John 6:17 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to go”)
  11. John 6:18 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to be stirred up”)
  12. John 6:18 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was blowing”) which is understood as causal
  13. John 6:19 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had rowed”) which is understood as temporal
  14. John 6:19 A “stade” or “stadium” (plur. “stadia”) is about 607 ft (187 m), so this was around 3 miles (5 km)
  15. John 6:23 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“had given thanks”)
  16. John 6:25 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“found”) which is understood as temporal
  17. John 6:30 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  18. John 6:31 A quotation from Ps 78:24 which refers to the events of Exod 16:4–36
  19. John 6:39 This pronoun is neuter singular in Greek, but is collective
  20. John 6:39 This pronoun is neuter singular in Greek, but is collective
  21. John 6:41 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to grumble”)
  22. John 6:43 Literally “with one another”
  23. John 6:45 A quotation from Isa 54:13
  24. John 6:46 The switch from first person in vv. 44–45 to third person here and back to first person in vv. 47–51 suggests that this verse is a parenthetical comment by the author rather than the words of Jesus
  25. John 6:51 Literally “for the age”
  26. John 6:52 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began to quarrel”)
  27. John 6:52 Literally “with one another”
  28. John 6:56 This term is somewhat graphic and typically used for animals feeding, but the distinction from other Greek verbs for eating is difficult to convey in English
  29. John 6:57 This term is somewhat graphic and typically used for animals feeding, but the distinction from other Greek verbs for eating is difficult to convey in English
  30. John 6:58 This term is somewhat graphic and typically used for animals feeding, but the distinction from other Greek verbs for eating is difficult to convey in English
  31. John 6:58 Literally “for the age”
  32. John 6:59 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“teaching”) which is understood as temporal
  33. John 6:60 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
  34. John 6:60 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  35. John 6:61 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“knew”) which is understood as causal
  36. John 6:66 Literally “went away to the things behind”
  37. John 6:67 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “do you”
Close NLT

John 6
New Living Translation

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

6 After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. 4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) 5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money[a] to feed them!”

8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”

10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. 12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.

14 When the people saw him[b] do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”[c] 15 When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

Jesus Walks on Water

16 That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17 But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. 18 Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. 19 They had rowed three or four miles[d] when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, 20 but he called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here![e]” 21 Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived at their destination!

Jesus, the Bread of Life

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the far shore saw that the disciples had taken the only boat, and they realized Jesus had not gone with them. 23 Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man[f] can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”

28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”

29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

30 They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? 31 After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[g]”

32 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. 37 However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. 39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 Then the people[h] began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

43 But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. 45 As it is written in the Scriptures,[i] ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)

47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”

52 Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.

53 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54 But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.”

59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

60 Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”

61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? 63 The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65 Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”

66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”

68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.[j]”

70 Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.

Footnotes

  1. 6:7 Greek Two hundred denarii would not be enough. A denarius was equivalent to a laborer’s full day’s wage.
  2. 6:14a Some manuscripts read Jesus.
  3. 6:14b See Deut 18:15, 18; Mal 4:5-6.
  4. 6:19 Greek 25 or 30 stadia [4.6 or 5.5 kilometers].
  5. 6:20 Or The ‘I am’ is here; Greek reads I am. See Exod 3:14.
  6. 6:27 “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
  7. 6:31 Exod 16:4; Ps 78:24.
  8. 6:41 Greek Jewish people; also in 6:52.
  9. 6:45 Greek in the prophets. Isa 54:13.
  10. 6:69 Other manuscripts read you are the Christ, the Holy One of God; still others read you are the Christ, the Son of God; and still others read you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Next
John 5
John 7
Next
dropdown
Lexham English Bible (LEB)

2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.