Matthew 14:15-21

14:15 When evening arrived, his disciples came to him saying, “This is an isolated place ¹  and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 14:16 But he ²  replied, “They don’t need to go. You ³  give them something to eat.” 14:17 They ⁴  said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 14:18 “Bring them here to me,” he replied. 14:19 Then ⁵  he instructed the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples, ⁶  who in turn gave them to the crowds. ⁷  14:20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, twelve baskets full. 14:21 Not counting women and children, there were about five thousand men who ate.

Mark 6:35-44

6:35 When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place ⁸  and it is already very late. 6:36 Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” 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.” 6:39 Then he directed them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 6:40 So they reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties. 6:41 He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He ¹²  gave them to his ¹³  disciples to serve the people, and he divided the two fish among them all. 6:42 They all ate and were satisfied, 6:43 and they picked up the broken pieces and fish that were left over, twelve baskets full. 6:44 Now ¹⁴  there were five thousand men ¹⁵  who ate the bread. ¹⁶ 

John 6:1

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

6:1 After this ¹⁷  Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias). ¹⁸ 

John 6:5-15

6:5 Then Jesus, when he looked up ¹⁹  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 ²⁰  said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.) ²¹  6:7 Philip replied, ²²  “Two hundred silver coins worth ²³  of bread would not be enough for them, for each one to get a little.” 6:8 One of Jesus’ disciples, ²⁴  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 ²⁵  are these for so many people?”

6:10 Jesus said, “Have ²⁶  the people sit down.” (Now there was a lot of grass in that place.) ²⁷  So the men ²⁸  sat down, about five thousand in number. 6:11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed the bread to those who were seated. He then did the same with the fish, ²⁹  as much as they wanted. 6:12 When they were all satisfied, Jesus ³⁰  said to his disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing is wasted.” 6:13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves ³¹  left over by the people who had eaten.

6:14 Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus ³²  performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet ³³  who is to come into the world.” ³⁴  6:15 Then Jesus, because he knew they were going to come and seize him by force to make him king, withdrew again up the mountainside alone. ³⁵ 

[14:15]  ¹ tn Or “a desert” (meaning a deserted or desolate area with sparse vegetation).

[14:16]  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.

[14:16]  ³ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

[14:17]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[14:19]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then.”

[14:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “And after instructing the crowds to recline for a meal on the grass, after taking the five loaves and the two fish, after looking up to heaven, he gave thanks, and after breaking the loaves he gave them to the disciples.” Although most of the participles are undoubtedly attendant circumstance, there are but two indicative verbs – “he gave thanks” and “he gave.” The structure of the sentence thus seems to focus on these two actions and has been translated accordingly.

[14:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.”

[6:35]  ⁸ tn Or “a desert” (meaning a deserted or desolate area with sparse vegetation).

[6:37]  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.

[6:37]  ¹⁰ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

[6:37]  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.

[6:41]  ¹² tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:41]  ¹³ tc ‡ Most mss (Ì⁴⁵ A D W Θ Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy) have αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) after τοῖς μαθηταῖς (toi" maqhtai", “the disciples”), but several excellent witnesses (א B L Δ 33 579 892 1241 1424 2427 pc) lack the pronoun. This kind of variant is often a predictable expansion of the text; further, that many important mss lack the pronoun gives support for the shorter reading. For these reasons, the pronoun is considered to be secondary. NA²⁷ puts αὐτοῦ in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[6:44]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate a somewhat parenthetical remark by the author.

[6:44]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek word here is ἀνήρ, meaning “adult male” (BDAG 79 s.v. 1). According to Matt 14:21, Jesus fed not only five thousand men, but also an unspecified number of women and children.

[6:44]  ¹⁶ tc Many good mss (Ì⁴⁵ א D W Θ Ë^1,13 28 565 700 2542 lat sa) lack τοὺς ἄρτους (tous artous, lit. “the loaves” [here translated “the bread”]). On the other hand, just as weighty mss (A B L 33 2427 Ï) have the words. Although a decision is not easy, the most satisfactory explanation seems to be that scribes were more prone to delete than to add the words here. They may have been puzzled as to why “the bread” should be mentioned without a corresponding mention of “fish.” Since neither Matt 14:21 or Luke 9:17 explicitly mention the bread, a desire for harmonization may have motivated the copyists as well. On the other hand, D and W are prone to longer, explanatory readings. Since they both lack the words here, it is likely that their archetypes also lacked the words. But given Mark’s pleonastic style, the good witnesses with “the bread,” and a reasonable explanation for the omission, “the bread” is most likely part of the original text of Mark.

[6:1]  ¹⁷ tn Again, μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) is a vague temporal reference. How Jesus got from Jerusalem to Galilee is not explained, which has led many scholars (e.g., Bernard, Bultmann, and Schnackenburg) to posit either editorial redaction or some sort of rearrangement or dislocation of material (such as reversing the order of chaps. 5 and 6, for example). Such a rearrangement of the material would give a simple and consistent connection of events, but in the absence of all external evidence it does not seem to be supportable. R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:236) says that such an arrangement is attractive in some ways but not compelling, and that no rearrangement can solve all the geographical and chronological problems in John.

[6:1]  ¹⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Only John in the New Testament refers to the Sea of Galilee by the name Sea of Tiberias (see also John 21:1), but this is correct local usage. In the mid-20’s Herod completed the building of the town of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the lake; after this time the name came into use for the lake itself.

[6:5]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “when he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).

[6:6]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:6]  ²¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[6:7]  ²² tn Grk “Philip answered him.”

[6:7]  ²³ 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.

[6:8]  ²⁴ tn Grk “one of his disciples.”

[6:9]  ²⁵ tn Grk “but what are these”; the word “good” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[6:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Make.”

[6:10]  ²⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author (suggesting an eyewitness recollection).

[6:10]  ²⁸ 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).

[6:11]  ²⁹ tn Grk “likewise also (he distributed) from the fish.”

[6:12]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:13]  ³¹ sn Note that the fish mentioned previously (in John 6:9) are not emphasized here, only the five barley loaves. This is easy to understand, however, because the bread is of primary importance for the author in view of Jesus’ upcoming discourse on the Bread of Life.

[6:14]  ³² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:14]  ³³ sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.

[6:14]  ³⁴ sn An allusion to Deut 18:15.

[6:15]  ³⁵ sn Jesus, knowing that his “hour” had not yet come (and would not, in this fashion) withdrew again up the mountainside alone. The ministry of miracles in Galilee, ending with this, the multiplication of the bread (the last public miracle in Galilee recorded by John) aroused such a popular response that there was danger of an uprising. This would have given the authorities a legal excuse to arrest Jesus. The nature of Jesus’ kingship will become an issue again in the passion narrative of the Fourth Gospel (John 18:33ff.). Furthermore, the volatile reaction of the Galileans to the signs prepares for and foreshadows the misunderstanding of the miracle itself, and even the misunderstanding of Jesus’ explanation of it (John 6:22-71).