2 Kings 4:42-43

Elisha Miraculously Feeds a Hundred People

4:42 Now a man from Baal Shalisha brought some food for the prophet ¹  – twenty loaves of bread made from the firstfruits of the barley harvest, as well as fresh ears of grain. ²  Elisha ³  said, “Set it before the people so they may eat.” 4:43 But his attendant said, “How can I feed a hundred men with this?” ⁴  He replied, “Set it before the people so they may eat, for this is what the Lord says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.’” ⁵ 

Matthew 14:16-17

14:16 But he ⁶  replied, “They don’t need to go. You ⁷  give them something to eat.” 14:17 They ⁸  said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

Mark 6:37-38

6:37 But he answered them, ⁹  “You ¹⁰  give them something to eat.” And they said, “Should we go and buy bread for two hundred silver coins ¹¹  and give it to them to eat?” 6:38 He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five – and two fish.”

John 6:5-9

6:5 Then Jesus, when he looked up ¹²  and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?” 6:6 (Now Jesus ¹³  said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.) ¹⁴  6:7 Philip replied, ¹⁵  “Two hundred silver coins worth ¹⁶  of bread would not be enough for them, for each one to get a little.” 6:8 One of Jesus’ disciples, ¹⁷  Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 6:9 “Here is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good ¹⁸  are these for so many people?”

¹ tn Heb “man of God.”

² tn On the meaning of the word צִקְלוֹן (tsiqlon), “ear of grain,” see HALOT 148 s.v. בָּצֵק and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 59.

³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “How can I set this before a hundred men?”

⁵ tn The verb forms are infinitives absolute (Heb “eating and leaving over”) and have to be translated in light of the context.

⁶ tc ‡ The majority of witnesses read ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsous, “Jesus”) here, perhaps to clarify the subject. Although only a few Greek mss, along with several versional witnesses (א* D Z^vid 579 1424 pc e k sy^s,c,p sa bo), lack the name of Jesus, the omission does not seem to be either accidental or malicious and is therefore judged to be most likely the original reading. Nevertheless, a decision is difficult. NA²⁷ has the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

⁷ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁹ tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of the sentence has been changed for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

¹¹ sn The silver coin referred to here is the denarius. A denarius, inscribed with a picture of Tiberius Caesar, was worth approximately one day’s wage for a laborer. Two hundred denarii was thus approximately equal to eight months’ wages. The disciples did not have the resources in their possession to feed the large crowd, so Jesus’ request is his way of causing them to trust him as part of their growth in discipleship.

¹² tn Grk “when he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).

¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

¹⁵ tn Grk “Philip answered him.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “two hundred denarii.” The denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage for a laborer; this would be an amount worth about eight months’ pay.

¹⁷ tn Grk “one of his disciples.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “but what are these”; the word “good” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.