Jesus Feeds Five Thousand^(A)

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Yeshua. They reported to him everything they had done and taught. ³¹ So he said to them, “Let’s go to a place where we can be alone to rest for a while.” Many people were coming and going, and Yeshua and the apostles didn’t even have a chance to eat.

³² So they went away in a boat to a place where they could be alone. ³³ But many people saw them leave and recognized them. The people ran from all the cities and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ When Yeshua got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd and felt sorry for them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. So he spent a lot of time teaching them.

³⁵ When it was late, his disciples came to him. They said, “No one lives around here, and it’s already late. ³⁶ Send the people to the closest farms and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ Yeshua replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “Should we go and spend about a year’s wages on bread to feed them?”

³⁸ He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out, they told him, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.”

³⁹ Then he ordered all of them to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹ After he took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the people. He also gave pieces of the two fish to everyone. ⁴² All of them ate as much as they wanted. ⁴³ When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets with bread and fish. ⁴⁴ There were 5,000 men who had eaten the bread.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand^(A)

¹⁰ The apostles came back and told Yeshua everything they had done. He took them with him to a city called Bethsaida so that they could be alone. ¹¹ But the crowds found out about this and followed him. He welcomed them, talked to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who were sick.

¹² Toward the end of the day, the twelve apostles came to him. They said to him, “Send the crowd to the closest villages and farms so that they can find some food and a place to stay. No one lives around here.”

¹³ Yeshua replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish. Unless we go to buy food for all these people, that’s all we have.” ¹⁴ (There were about five thousand men.)

Then he told his disciples, “Have them sit in groups of about fifty.” ¹⁵ So they did this.

¹⁶ Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the crowd. ¹⁷ All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.

Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand^(A)

6 Yeshua later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. ³ Yeshua went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. ⁴ The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.

⁵ As Yeshua saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ Yeshua asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

⁸ One of Yeshua’s disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, ⁹ “A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”

¹⁰ Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.”

The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)

¹¹ Yeshua took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.

¹² When the people were full, Yeshua told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” ¹³ The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miracle Yeshua performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.”