John 6:1-15

New International Reader's Version

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

6 Some time after this, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It is also called the Sea of Tiberias. ² A large crowd of people followed him. They had seen the signs he had done by healing sick people. ³ Then Jesus went up on a mountainside. There he sat down with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

⁵ Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him. So he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ He asked this only to test Philip. He already knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, “Suppose we were able to buy enough bread for each person to have just a bite. That would take more than half a year’s pay!”

⁸ Another of his disciples spoke up. It was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He said, ⁹ “Here is a boy with five small loaves of barley bread. He also has two small fish. But how far will that go in such a large crowd?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down. About 5,000 men were there. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks. He handed out the bread to those who were seated. He gave them as much as they wanted. And he did the same with the fish.

¹² When all of them had enough to eat, Jesus spoke to his disciples. “Gather the leftover pieces,” he said. “Don’t waste anything.” ¹³ So they gathered what was left over from the five barley loaves. They filled 12 baskets with the pieces left by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ The people saw the sign that Jesus did. Then they began to say, “This must be the Prophet who is supposed to come into the world.” ¹⁵ But Jesus knew that they planned to come and force him to be their king. So he went away again to a mountain by himself.