Five Thousand Fed

^13 (A)Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the ^[a]people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When He went ^[b]ashore, He ^(B)saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and ^(C)healed their sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already ^[c]late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” ¹⁷ They *said to Him, “We have here only ^(D)five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ Ordering the ^[d]people to ^[e]sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He ^(E)blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, ²⁰ and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full ^(F)baskets. ²¹ There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

^10 (A)When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. ^(B)Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called ^(C)Bethsaida. ¹¹ But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.

Five Thousand Fed

¹² Now the day ^[a]was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get ^[b]something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place.” ¹³ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ (For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, “Have them ^[c]sit down to eat ^(D)in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did so, and had them all ^[d]sit down. ¹⁶ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the ^[e]people. ¹⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied; and ^[f]the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve ^(E)baskets full.

⁵ Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to ^(A)Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” ⁶ This He was saying to ^(B)test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. ^7 (C)Philip answered Him, “^(D)Two hundred ^[a]denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” ⁸ One of His ^(E)disciples, ^(F)Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, ⁹ “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two ^(G)fish, but what are these for so many people?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people ^[b]sit down.” Now there was ^(H)much grass in the place. So the men ^[c]sat down, in number about ^(I)five thousand. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and ^(J)having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the ^(K)fish as much as they wanted. ¹² When they were filled, He *said to His ^(L)disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up, and filled twelve ^(M)baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

² “^(A)I feel compassion for the ^[a]people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” ⁴ And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough ^[b]bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” ⁵ And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” ⁶ And He *directed the ^[c]people to ^[d]sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to ^[e]serve to them, and they served them to the ^[f]people. ⁷ They also had a few small fish; and ^(B)after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be ^[g]served as well. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large ^(C)baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. ⁹ About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.