John 6
New American Standard Bible
Five Thousand Men Fed
6 After these things (A)Jesus went away to the other side of (B)the Sea of Galilee (or (C)Tiberias). 2 A large crowd was following Him, because they were watching the [a](D)signs which He was performing on those who were sick. 3 But (E)Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. 4 Now (F)the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 5 So Jesus, after raising His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to (G)Philip, “Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?” 6 But He was saying this only to (H)test him, for He Himself knew what He intended to do. 7 (I)Philip answered Him, “(J)Two hundred [b]denarii worth of bread is not enough for them, for each to receive just a little!” 8 One of His (K)disciples, (L)Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two (M)fish; but what are these for so many people?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people recline to eat.” Now there was (N)plenty of grass in the place. So the men reclined, about [c](O)five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and (P)after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were reclining; likewise also of the (Q)fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, He *said to His (R)disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve (S)baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Therefore when the people saw the [d]sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the (T)Prophet who is to come into the world.”
Jesus Walks on the Water
15 So Jesus, aware that they [e]intended to come and take Him by force (U)to make Him king, (V)withdrew again to (W)the mountain by Himself, alone.
16 Now when evening came, His (X)disciples went down to the sea, 17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea (Y)to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 In addition, the sea began getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing. 19 Then, when they had rowed about [f]twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat; and they were frightened. 20 But He *said to them, “It is I; [g](Z)do not be afraid.” 21 So they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
22 The next day (AA)the crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus (AB)had not gotten into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had departed alone. 23 Other small boats came from (AC)Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the (AD)Lord (AE)had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats and (AF)came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. 25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “(AG)Rabbi, when did You get here?”
Words to the People
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you (AH)seek Me, not because you saw [h](AI)signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not (AJ)work for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for (AK)eternal life, which (AL)the Son of Man will give you, for on Him the Father, God, (AM)has set His [i]seal.” 28 Therefore they said to Him, “What are we to do, so that we may accomplish the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is (AN)the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He (AO)has sent.” 30 So they said to Him, “(AP)What then are You doing as a (AQ)sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work are You performing? 31 (AR)Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘(AS)He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is [j]that which (AT)comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always (AU)give us this bread.”
35 Jesus said to them, “(AV)I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me (AW)will never be thirsty. 36 But (AX)I said to you that you have indeed seen Me, and yet you do not believe. 37 (AY)Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out. 38 For (AZ)I have come down from heaven, (BA)not to do My own will, but (BB)the will of Him who (BC)sent Me. 39 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of (BD)everything that He has given Me I will (BE)lose nothing, but will (BF)raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who (BG)sees the Son and (BH)believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will (BI)raise him up on the last day.”
Words to the Jews
41 (BJ)So then the Jews were complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that (BK)came down out of heaven.” 42 And they were saying, “(BL)Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother (BM)we know? How does He now say, ‘(BN)I have come down out of heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop complaining among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me (BO)draws him; and I will (BP)raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written (BQ)in the Prophets: ‘(BR)And they shall all be (BS)taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46 (BT)Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes (BU)has eternal life. 48 (BV)I am the bread of life. 49 (BW)Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that (BX)comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat from it and (BY)not die. 51 (BZ)I am the living bread that (CA)came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, (CB)he will live forever; and the bread which I will give (CC)for the life of the world also is (CD)My flesh.”
52 (CE)Then the Jews (CF)began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of (CG)the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will (CH)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 My flesh and drinks My blood (CI)remains in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the (CJ)living Father (CK)sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that (CL)came down out of heaven, not as (CM)the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread (CN)will live forever.”
Words to the Disciples
59 These things He said (CO)in the synagogue as He taught (CP)in Capernaum.
60 So then many of His (CQ)disciples, when they heard this, said, “(CR)This statement is very [k]unpleasant; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, (CS)aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this [l](CT)offensive to you? 62 What then if you see (CU)the Son of Man (CV)ascending to where He was before? 63 (CW)It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; (CX)the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. 64 But there are (CY)some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus (CZ)knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and (DA)who it was who would [m]betray Him. 65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have (DB)told you that no one can come to Me unless (DC)it has been granted him from the Father.”
Peter’s Confession of Faith
66 As a result of this many of His (DD)disciples (DE)left, and would no longer walk with Him. 67 So Jesus said to (DF)the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” 68 (DG)Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have (DH)words of eternal life. 69 And we have already believed and have come to know that You are (DI)the Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “(DJ)Did I Myself not choose you, (DK)the twelve? And yet one of you is (DL)a devil.” 71 Now He meant Judas (DM)the son of Simon Iscariot; for he, (DN)one of (DO)the twelve, [n]was going to betray Him.
Footnotes
- John 6:2 I.e., confirming miracles
- John 6:7 The denarius was a day’s wages for a laborer
- John 6:10 I.e., 5,000 men plus women and children, cf. Matt 14:21
- John 6:14 I.e., confirming miracle
- John 6:15 Or were about
- John 6:19 Possibly 3-4 miles or 4.8-6.4 km; a Roman stadion perhaps averaged 607 ft. or 185 m
- John 6:20 Or stop being afraid
- John 6:26 I.e., confirming miracles
- John 6:27 I.e., of identification or authenticity
- John 6:33 Or He who comes
- John 6:60 Or hard
- John 6:61 Or shocking
- John 6:64 Or hand Him over
- John 6:71 Or was intending to
John 6
International Standard Version
Jesus Feeds More than Five Thousand(A)
6 After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (that is, to Tiberias). 2 A large crowd kept following him because they had seen the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. 3 But Jesus went up on a hillside and sat down there with his disciples.
4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5 When Jesus looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 Jesus[a] said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii[b] worth of bread isn’t enough for each of them to have a little.”
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, 9 “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are these among so many people?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was plenty of grass in that area, so they sat down, numbering about 5,000 men.
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He also distributed[c] as much fish as they wanted. 12 When they were completely satisfied, Jesus[d] told his disciples, “Collect the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” 13 So they collected and filled twelve baskets full of pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign[e] that he had done, they kept saying, “Truly this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!” 15 Then Jesus, realizing that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew[f] again to the hillside by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Sea(B)
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already fallen, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 A strong wind was blowing, and the sea was getting rough. 19 After they had rowed about 25 or 30 stadia,[g] they saw Jesus walking on the sea toward their boat. They became terrified. 20 But he told them, “It is I. Stop being afraid!” 21 So they were glad to take him on board, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
Jesus the Bread of Life
22 The next day, the crowd that had remained on the other side of the sea noticed that only one boat had been there, and no other, and that Jesus had not gotten into that boat with his disciples. Instead, his disciples had gone away by themselves. 23 Other small boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.[h] 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus.
25 When they had found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi,[i] when did you get here?”
26 Jesus replied to them, “Truly, I tell all of you[j] emphatically, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were completely satisfied. 27 Do not work for food that perishes but for food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to perform God’s works?”
29 Jesus answered them, “This is God’s work: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign are you going to do so that we may see it and believe in you? What actions are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”[k]
32 Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you[l] emphatically, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they told him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”
35 Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. 36 I told you that you have seen me,[m] yet you don’t believe. 37 Everything the Father gives me will come to me, and I’ll never turn away the one who comes to me. 38 I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. 39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything that he has given me, but should raise it to life on the last day. 40 This is my Father’s will: That everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.”
41 Then the Jewish leaders[n] began grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They kept saying, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph, isn’t it, whose father and mother we know? So how can he 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 him, and I will raise him to life on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And all of them will be taught by God.’[o] Everyone who has listened to the Father and has learned anything comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who comes from God. This one has seen the Father. 47 Truly, I tell all of you[p] emphatically, the one who believes in me[q] has eternal life. 48 I’m the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. 51 I’m the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he’ll live forever. And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 Then the Jewish leaders[r] debated angrily with each other, asking, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 So Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you[s] emphatically, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I’ll raise him to life on the last day, 55 because my flesh is real[t] food, and my blood is real[u] drink. 56 The person 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 also live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not the kind that your ancestors ate. They died, but the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This is a difficult statement. Who can accept[v] it?”
61 But Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you? 62 What if you saw the Son of Man going up to the place where he was before? 63 It’s the Spirit who gives life; the flesh accomplishes nothing. The words that I’ve spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But there are some among you who don’t believe...”—because Jesus knew from the beginning those who weren’t believing, as well as the one who would betray him. 65 So he said, “That’s why I told you that no one can come to me unless it be granted him by the Father.” 66 As a result,[w] many of his disciples turned back and no longer associated[x] with him.
67 So Jesus asked the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave, too, do you?”
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Besides, we have believed and remain convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”[y]
70 Jesus answered them, “I chose you, the Twelve, didn’t I? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 Now he was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot,[z] because this man was going to betray him, even though he was one of the Twelve.
Footnotes
- John 6:6 Lit. He
- John 6:7 The denarius was the usual day’s wage for a laborer.
- John 6:11 Lit. Likewise also
- John 6:12 Lit. he
- John 6:14 Other mss. read signs
- John 6:15 Other mss. read fled
- John 6:19 I.e. three or four miles; the Roman mile contained eight stadia, one stadion was about 604.5 feet long
- John 6:23 Other mss. lack after the Lord had given thanks
- John 6:25 Rabbi is Heb. for Master and/or Teacher
- John 6:26 The Gk. pronoun you is pl.
- John 6:31 Cf. Ps 78:24; Exod 16:15; Num 11:7-9
- John 6:32 The Gk. pronoun you is pl.
- John 6:36 Other mss. lack me
- John 6:41 I.e. Judean leaders; lit. the Jews
- John 6:45 Cf. Isa 54:13
- John 6:47 The Gk. pronoun you is pl.
- John 6:47 Other mss. lack in me
- John 6:52 I.e. Judean leaders; lit. the Jews
- John 6:53 The Gk. pronoun you is pl.
- John 6:55 Or true
- John 6:55 Or true
- John 6:60 Lit. listen to
- John 6:66 Or From this time
- John 6:66 Lit. walked
- John 6:69 Other mss. read the Messiah, the Son of the living God
- John 6:71 Other mss. read Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon
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