Matthew 14:13-21

Expanded Bible

More than Five Thousand Fed^(A)

¹³ When Jesus heard what had happened to John, he left in a boat and went to a ·lonely [isolated; deserted] place by himself. But the crowds heard about it and followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When he ·arrived [landed; came ashore], he saw a great crowd waiting. He ·felt sorry [had compassion] for them and healed those who were sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, his ·followers [disciples] came to him and said, “·No one lives in this [This is a remote/deserted] place, and it is already late. Send the people away so they can go to the ·towns [villages] and buy food for themselves.”

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

¹⁷ They said to him, “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ Jesus said, “Bring ·the bread and the fish [^Lthem here] to me.” ¹⁹ Then he ·told [commanded; ordered] the people to ·sit down [recline] on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking to heaven, he ·thanked God for [blessed] the food. Jesus ·divided [broke] the bread and gave it to his ·followers [disciples], who gave it to the people. ²⁰ All the people ate and were satisfied. Then ·the followers [^Lthey] filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of food. ²¹ There were about five thousand men there who ate, not counting women and children.