10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.

11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

12 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.

13 But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.

14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.

15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.

16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.

17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

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Feeding 5,000

10 When the apostles returned,(A) they reported to Jesus all that they had done.(B) He took them along and withdrew privately to a[a] town called Bethsaida.(C) 11 When the crowds found out, they followed Him. He welcomed them,(D) spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and cured[b] those who needed healing.

12 Late in the day,[c](E) the Twelve approached and said to Him, “Send the crowd away,(F) so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find food and lodging, because we are in a deserted place here.”

13 “You give them something to eat,” He told them.

“We have no more than five loaves(G) and two fish,” they said, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (For about 5,000 men were there.)

Then He told His disciples, “Have them sit down[d] in groups of about 50 each.” 15 They did so, and had them all sit down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,(H) He blessed and broke them.(I) He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 Everyone ate and was filled. Then they picked up[e] 12 baskets of leftover pieces.

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 9:10 Other mss add deserted place near a
  2. Luke 9:11 Or healed; in this passage, different Gk words are translated as heal. In Eng, “to heal” or “to cure” are synonyms with little distinction in meaning. Technically, we do not heal or cure diseases. People are healed or cured from diseases.
  3. Luke 9:12 Lit When the day began to decline
  4. Luke 9:14 Lit them recline
  5. Luke 9:17 Lit Then were picked up by them

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand(A)(B)

10 When the apostles(C) returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then he took them with him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida,(D) 11 but the crowds learned about it and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God,(E) and healed those who needed healing.

12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”

13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14 (About five thousand men were there.)

But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them.(F) Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

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10-11 The apostles returned and reported on what they had done. Jesus took them away, off by themselves, near the town called Bethsaida. But the crowds got wind of it and followed. Jesus graciously welcomed them and talked to them about the kingdom of God. Those who needed healing, he healed.

Bread and Fish for Five Thousand

12 As the sun set, the Twelve said, “Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the farms or villages around here and get a room for the night and a bite to eat. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

13-14 “You feed them,” Jesus said.

They said, “We couldn’t scrape up more than five loaves of bread and a couple of fish—unless, of course, you want us to go to town ourselves and buy food for everybody.” (There were more than five thousand people in the crowd.)

14-17 But he went ahead and directed his disciples, “Sit them down in groups of about fifty.” They did what he said, and soon had everyone seated. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread and fish to the disciples to hand out to the crowd. After the people had all eaten their fill, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered up.

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