Psalms 22:26

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ¹ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ²  live forever!

Psalms 33:18-19

33:18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers, ³ 

those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness ⁴ 

33:19 by saving their lives from death ⁵ 

and sustaining them during times of famine. ⁶ 

Psalms 36:8

36:8 They are filled with food from your house,

and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.

Psalms 37:3

37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! ⁷ 

Psalms 37:19

37:19 They will not be ashamed when hard times come; ⁸ 

when famine comes they will have enough to eat. ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 14:29

14:29 Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.

Isaiah 33:16

33:16 This is the person who will live in a secure place; ¹⁰ 

he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; ¹¹ 

he will have food

and a constant supply of water.

Jeremiah 31:14

31:14 I will provide the priests with abundant provisions. ¹² 

My people will be filled to the full with the good things I provide.”

Matthew 5:6

5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger ¹³  and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

Matthew 6:32-33

6:32 For the unconverted ¹⁴  pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom ¹⁵  and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Mark 8:6-9

8:6 Then ¹⁶  he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So ¹⁷  they served the crowd. 8:7 They also had a few small fish. After giving thanks for these, he told them to serve these as well. 8:8 Everyone ¹⁸  ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 8:9 There were about four thousand ¹⁹  who ate. ²⁰  Then he dismissed them. ²¹ 

¹ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

² tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

³ tn Heb “look, the eye of the Lord [is] toward the ones who fear him.” The expression “the eye…[is] toward” here indicates recognition and the bestowing of favor. See Ps 34:15. The one who fears the Lord respects his sovereignty and obeys his commandments. See Ps 128:1; Prov 14:2.

⁴ tn Heb “for the ones who wait for his faithfulness.”

⁵ tn Heb “to save from death their live[s].”

⁶ tn Heb “and to keep them alive in famine.”

⁷ tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (ra’ah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.

⁸ tn Heb “in a time of trouble.”

⁹ tn Heb “in days of famine they will be satisfied.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “he [in the] exalted places will live.”

¹¹ tn Heb “mountain strongholds, cliffs [will be] his elevated place.”

¹² tn Heb “I will satiate the priests with fat.” However, the word translated “fat” refers literally to the fat ashes of the sacrifices (see Lev 1:16; 4:2 and cf. BDB 206 s.v. דֶּשֶׁן 2. The word is used more abstractly for “abundance” or “rich food” (see Job 36:16 and BDB 206 s.v. דֶּשֶׁן 1). The people and the priests were prohibited from eating the fat (Lev 7:23-24).

¹³ sn Those who hunger are people like the poor Jesus has already mentioned. The term has OT roots both in conjunction with the poor (Isa 32:6-7; 58:6-7, 9-10; Ezek 18:7, 16) or by itself (Ps 37:16-19; 107:9).

¹⁴ tn Or “unbelievers”; Grk “Gentiles.”

¹⁵ tc ‡ Most mss (L W Θ 0233 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy mae) read τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ (thn basileian tou qeou kai thn dikaiosunhn aujtou, “the kingdom of God and his righteousness”) here, but the words “of God” are lacking in א B pc sa bo Eus. On the one hand, there is the possibility of accidental omission on the part of these Alexandrian witnesses, but it seems unlikely that the scribe’s eye would skip over both words (especially since τοῦ θεοῦ is bracketed by first declension nouns). Intrinsically, the author generally has a genitive modifier with βασιλεία – especially θεοῦ or οὐρανῶν (ouranwn) – but this argument cuts both ways: Although he might be expected to use such an adjunct here, scribes might also be familiar with his practice and would thus naturally insert it if it were missing in their copy of Matthew. Although a decision is difficult, the omission of τοῦ θεοῦ is considered most likely to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubt as to their authenticity.

¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹⁷ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

¹⁸ tn Grk “They.”

¹⁹ sn The parallel in Matt 15:32-39 notes that the four thousand were only men, a point not made explicit in Mark.

²⁰ tn The words “who ate” are not in the Greek text but have been supplied for clarity.

²¹ sn Mark 8:1-10. Many commentators, on the basis of similarities between this account of the feeding of the multitude (8:1-10) and that in 6:30-44, have argued that there is only one event referred to in both passages. While there are similarities in language and in the response of the disciples, there are also noticeable differences, including the different number present on each occasion (i.e., 5,000 in chap. 6 and 4,000 here). In the final analysis, the fact that Jesus refers to two distinct feedings in 8:18-20 settles the issue; this passage represents another very similar incident to that recorded in 6:30-44.