Mark 8:1-11

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

8:1 In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So ¹  Jesus ²  called his disciples and said to them, 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.” 8:4 His disciples answered him, “Where can someone get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 8:5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” 8:6 Then ³  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 ⁴  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 ⁵  ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 8:9 There were about four thousand ⁶  who ate. ⁷  Then he dismissed them. ⁸  8:10 Immediately he got into a boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. ⁹ 

The Demand for a Sign

8:11 Then the Pharisees ¹⁰  came and began to argue with Jesus, asking for ¹¹  a sign from heaven ¹²  to test him.

[8:1]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:1]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:6]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[8:8]  ⁵ tn Grk “They.”

[8:9]  ⁶ sn The parallel in Matt 15:32-39 notes that the four thousand were only men, a point not made explicit in Mark.

[8:9]  ⁷ tn The words “who ate” are not in the Greek text but have been supplied for clarity.

[8:9]  ⁸ 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.

[8:10]  ⁹ sn The exact location of Dalmanutha is uncertain, but it is somewhere close to the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

[8:11]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[8:11]  ¹¹ tn Grk “seeking from him.” The participle ζητοῦντες (zhtountes) shows the means by which the Pharisees argued with Jesus.

[8:11]  ¹² sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.