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Jesus Feeds More than Four Thousand People(A)

At that time, after a large crowd again had gathered together with nothing to eat, Jesus[a] called his disciples and told them, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they’ve already been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away to their homes hungry, they’ll faint on the road. Some of them have come a long distance.”

His disciples answered him, “Where could anyone get enough bread to feed these people out here in the wilderness?”

He asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?”

“Seven,” they said.

So he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and gave thanks. He broke them in pieces and kept giving them to his disciples to distribute. So they served them to the crowd. They also had a few small fish. He blessed them and said that the fish[b] should also be distributed. The people[c] ate and were filled. Then the disciples[d] picked up the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. Now about 4,000 men were there. Then he sent them on their way. 10 Immediately he got into a boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Mark 8:1 Lit. he
  2. Mark 8:7 Lit. these
  3. Mark 8:8 Lit. They
  4. Mark 8:8 Lit. they
  5. Mark 8:10 Other mss. read Mageda; still other mss. read Magdala

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand(A)(B)(C)

During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people;(D) they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”

His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”

“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied.

He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.(E) The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.(F) About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

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