Mark 8:2-3

8:2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. 8:3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.”

Mark 8:2

8:2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days, and they have nothing to eat.

Mark 4:1

The Parable of the Sower

4:1 Again he began to teach by the lake. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there while ¹  the whole crowd was on the shore by the lake.

Matthew 14:16

14:16 But he ²  replied, “They don’t need to go. You ³  give them something to eat.”

Matthew 15:32

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

15:32 Then Jesus called the ⁴  disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days and they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry since they may faint on the way.”

Luke 9:13

9:13 But he said to them, “You ⁵  give them something to eat.” They ⁶  replied, ⁷  “We have no more than five loaves and two fish – unless ⁸  we go ⁹  and buy food ¹⁰  for all these people.”

John 6:4-10

6:4 (Now the Jewish feast of the Passover ¹¹  was near.) ¹²  6:5 Then Jesus, when he looked up ¹³  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 ¹⁴  said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.) ¹⁵  6:7 Philip replied, ¹⁶  “Two hundred silver coins worth ¹⁷  of bread would not be enough for them, for each one to get a little.” 6:8 One of Jesus’ disciples, ¹⁸  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 ¹⁹  are these for so many people?”

6:10 Jesus said, “Have ²⁰  the people sit down.” (Now there was a lot of grass in that place.) ²¹  So the men ²²  sat down, about five thousand in number.

¹ tn Grk “and all the crowd.” The clause in this phrase, although coordinate in terms of grammar, is logically subordinate to the previous clause.

² 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.

³ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

⁴ tc ‡ Although the external evidence is not great (א W Θ 700 pc), the internal evidence for the omission of αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) after “disciples” is fairly strong. The pronoun may have been added by way of clarification. NA²⁷, however, includes the pronoun, on the basis of the much stronger external evidence.

⁵ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁷ tn Grk “said.”

⁸ tn This possibility is introduced through a conditional clause, but it is expressed with some skepticism (BDF §376).

⁹ tn The participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") has been taken as indicating attendant circumstance.

¹⁰ sn Not only would going and buying food have been expensive and awkward at this late time of day, it would have taken quite a logistical effort to get the food back out to this isolated location.

¹¹ sn Passover. According to John’s sequence of material, considerable time has elapsed since the feast of 5:1. If the feast in 5:1 was Pentecost of a.d. 31, then this feast would be the Passover of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion.

¹² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

¹³ tn Grk “when he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).

¹⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

¹⁶ tn Grk “Philip answered him.”

¹⁷ 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.

¹⁸ tn Grk “one of his disciples.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “but what are these”; the word “good” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

²⁰ tn Grk “Make.”

²¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author (suggesting an eyewitness recollection).

²² tn Here “men” has been used in the translation because the following number, 5,000, probably included only adult males (see the parallel in Matt 14:21).