Old/New Testament
22 The next day the crowd that had remained on the far side of the lake saw that there had only been the one boat there. They knew that Jesus hadn’t gone with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. 23 But other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him beside the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Bread from heaven
26 This was Jesus’ reply.
“I’m telling you the solemn truth,” he said. “You aren’t looking for me because you saw signs, but because you ate as much bread as you could. 27 You shouldn’t be working for perishable food, but for food that will last to the life of God’s coming age—the food which the son of man will give you, the person whom God the father has stamped with the seal of his approval.”
28 “What should we be doing,” they asked him, “so that we can be doing the work God wants?”
29 “This is the work God wants of you,” replied Jesus, “that you believe in the one he sent.”
30 “Well, then,” they said to him, “what sign are you going to do, so that we can see it and believe you? What work are you doing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; it says in the Bible that ‘he gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32 “I’m telling you the solemn truth,” Jesus replied. “It wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. It was my father who gave you the true bread from heaven. 33 God’s bread, you see, is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Master,” they said, “give us this bread—give it to us always!”
35 “I am the bread of life,” replied Jesus. “Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry! Anyone who believes in me will never be thirsty!”
The father’s will
36 “But I told you,” Jesus continued, “that you have indeed seen me—and still you don’t believe! 37 All that the father gives me will come to me; and I won’t reject anyone who comes to me, 38 because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should lose nothing out of everything that he has given me, but that I should raise it up on the last day. 40 This is the will of my father, you see: that all who see the son and believe in him should have the life of God’s coming age; and I will raise them up on the last day.”
41 The Judaeans then grumbled about him because he had said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”
42 “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son?” they said. “We know his father and mother, don’t we? So how can he say ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 “Don’t grumble among yourselves,” answered Jesus. 44 “No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them—and I will raise them up on the last day.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.