Jesus Feeds More than Five Thousand People^(A)

¹³ When Jesus heard this, he left that place and went^[a] by boat to a deserted place by himself. The crowds heard of it and followed him on foot from the neighboring^[b] towns. ¹⁴ When he got out of the boat,^[c] he saw a large crowd. He had compassion for them and healed their sick. ¹⁵ When evening had come, the disciples went to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it’s already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

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

¹⁷ They told him, “We don’t have anything here except five loaves of bread and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them to me.” ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed them. Then he broke the loaves in pieces and gave them to his disciples, and the disciples gave them^[d] to the crowds. ²⁰ All of them ate and were filled. Then the disciples^[e] picked up what was left of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. ²¹ Now those who had eaten were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.