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)

The Bread of Life

²² The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat.^[a](A) They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone. ²³ Some boats from Tiberias^(B) came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi,^(C) when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw^[b] the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Don’t work for the food that perishes^(D) but for the food that lasts for eternal life,^(E) which the Son of Man^(F) will give you, because God the Father^(G) 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^(H) of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”^(I)

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^(J) in the wilderness,^(K) just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”^[c](L)

³² Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses^(M) 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^(N) the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me^(O) will ever be hungry,^(P) and no one who believes in me^(Q) will ever be thirsty^(R) again. ³⁶ But as I told you, you’ve seen me,^[d] 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.^{(S) 38} For I have come down from heaven,^(T) not to do my own will, but the will of him^(U) 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^(V) them up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father: ^(W) that everyone who sees the Son^(X) and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise^(Y) him up on the last day.”

The Multiplied Bread

⁴² A man from Baal-shalishah^(A) came to the man of God with his sack full of^[a] twenty loaves of barley bread from the first bread of the harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”^(B)

⁴³ But Elisha’s attendant asked, “What? Am I to set this before a hundred men?” ^(C)

“Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said, “for this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat, and they will have some left over.’” ⁴⁴ So he set it before them, and as the Lord had promised, they ate and had some left over.^(D)