More Than 5,000 People Fed

¹³ When Jesus heard what happened to John, Jesus left in a boat. He went to a lonely place by himself. But when the crowds heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus arrived, he saw a large crowd. He felt sorry for them and healed those who were sick.

¹⁵ Late that afternoon, his followers came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the towns and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “They don’t need to go away. You give them some food to eat.”

¹⁷ The followers answered, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ Jesus said, “Bring the bread and the fish to me.” ¹⁹ Then he told the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. Then he looked to heaven and thanked God for the food. Jesus divided the loaves of bread. He gave them to his followers, and they gave the bread to the people. ²⁰ All the people ate and were satisfied. After they finished eating, the followers filled 12 baskets with the pieces of food that were not eaten. ²¹ There were about 5,000 men there who ate, as well as women and children.

More Than 5,000 People Fed

³⁰ The apostles that Jesus had sent out to preach returned. They gathered around him and told him about all the things they had done and taught. ³¹ Crowds of people were coming and going. Jesus 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 they went in a boat alone to a place where there were no people. ³³ But many people saw them leave and recognized them. So people from all the towns ran to the place where Jesus was going. They got there before Jesus arrived. ³⁴ When he landed, he saw a great crowd waiting. Jesus felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he taught them many things.

³⁵ It was now late in the day. Jesus’ followers came to him and said, “No one lives in this place. And it is already very late. ³⁶ 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 food to eat.”

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

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

When they found out, they came to him and said, “We have five loaves and two fish.”

³⁹ Then Jesus said to the followers, “Tell all the people to sit in groups on the green grass.” ⁴⁰ So all the people sat in groups. They sat in groups of 50 or groups of 100. ⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for the bread. He divided the bread and gave it to his followers for them to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² All the people ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ The followers filled 12 baskets with the pieces of bread and fish that were not eaten. ⁴⁴ There were about 5,000 men there who ate.

More Than 5,000 People Fed

¹⁰ When the apostles returned, they told Jesus all the things they had done on their trip. Then Jesus took them away to a town called Bethsaida. There, Jesus and his apostles could be alone together. ¹¹ But the people learned where Jesus went and followed him. Jesus welcomed them and talked with them about God’s kingdom. He healed those who needed to be healed.

¹² Late in the afternoon, the 12 apostles came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. Send the people away. They need to find food and places to sleep in the towns and countryside around here.”

¹³ But Jesus said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

They said, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you want us to go buy food for all these people?” ¹⁴ (There were about 5,000 men there.)

Jesus said to his followers, “Tell the people to sit in groups of about 50 people.”

¹⁵ So the followers did this, and all the people sat down. ¹⁶ Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for the food. Then Jesus divided the food and gave it to the followers to give to the people. ¹⁷ All the people ate and were satisfied. And there was much food left. Twelve baskets were filled with pieces of food that were not eaten.