New Testament in a Year

The Bread of Life^[a]

Chapter 6

Signs of Salvation

Jesus Feeds the Crowds.^{[b] 1} After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias, ² and a large crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he performed on the sick. ³ Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ The Jewish feast of Passover was approaching.

⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for them to eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, because Jesus himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages^[c] would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a small piece.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what help will they be among so many?”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was plenty of grass in that place, so the men sat down, about five thousand of them. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² When they all had eaten enough, he said to the disciples, “Gather up the fragments that are left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” ¹³ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When the people saw the sign he had performed, they began to say, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Then Jesus realized that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, so he again withdrew to the mountain by himself.

¹⁶ Jesus Walks on the Water.^[d] When evening came, the disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and set out across the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. ¹⁸ The sea then became rough because a strong wind had started to blow.

¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I.^[e] Do not be afraid!” ²¹ They were ready to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately reached the shore toward which they were heading.