Jesus Feeds More Than 5000^(A)

³⁰ The apostles Jesus had sent out came back to him. They gathered around him and told him about all they had done and taught. ³¹ Jesus and his followers were in a very busy place. There were so many people that he and his followers did not even have time to eat. He said to them, “Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we will get some rest.”

³² So Jesus and his followers went away alone. They went in a boat to a place where no one lived. ³³ But many people saw them leave and knew who they were. So people from every town ran to the place where they were going and got there before Jesus. ³⁴ As Jesus stepped out of the boat, he saw a large crowd waiting. He felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd to care for them. So he taught the people many things.

³⁵ It was now very late in the day. Jesus’ followers came to him and said, “No one lives around here, and it is already very late. ³⁶ So send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat.”

³⁷ But Jesus answered, “You give them some food to eat.”

They said to Jesus, “We can’t buy enough bread to feed all these people. We would all have to work a month to earn enough to buy that much bread!”

³⁸ Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see.”

They counted their loaves of bread. They came to Jesus and said, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “Tell everyone to sit in groups on the green grass.” ⁴⁰ So all the people sat in groups. There were about 50 or 100 people in each group.

⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to the sky and thanked God for the food. Then he broke the bread into pieces, which he gave to his followers to distribute to the people. Then he divided the two fish among everyone there.

⁴² They all ate until they were full. ⁴³ After they finished eating, the followers filled twelve baskets with the pieces of bread and fish that were left. ⁴⁴ There were about 5000 men there who ate.