Numbers 11:21-22

11:21 Moses said, “The people around me ¹  are 600,000 on foot; ²  but you say, ‘I will give them meat, ³  that they may eat ⁴  for a whole month.’ 11:22 Would they have enough if the flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”

Numbers 11:2

11:2 When the people cried to Moses, he ⁵  prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out. ⁶ 

Numbers 4:42-44

4:42 Those numbered from the families of the Merarites, by their families, by their clans, 4:43 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered the company for the work in the tent of meeting – 4:44 those of them numbered by their families were 3,200.

Mark 6:37

6:37 But he answered them, ⁷  “You ⁸  give them something to eat.” And they said, “Should we go and buy bread for two hundred silver coins ⁹  and give it to them to eat?”

Mark 8:4-5

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.”

John 6:5-7

6:5 Then Jesus, when he looked up ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  said this to test him, for he knew what he was going to do.) ¹²  6:7 Philip replied, ¹³  “Two hundred silver coins worth ¹⁴  of bread would not be enough for them, for each one to get a little.”

[11:21]  ¹ tn Heb “the people who I am in their midst,” i.e., among whom I am.

[11:21]  ² tn The Hebrew sentence stresses the number. The sentence begins “600,000….”

[11:21]  ³ tn The word order places the object first here: “Meat I will give them.” This adds to the contrast between the number and the statement of the Lord.

[11:21]  ⁴ tn The verb is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence from the preceding imperfect tense. However, this verb may be subordinated to the preceding to express a purpose clause.

[11:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “Moses.”

[11:2]  ⁶ sn Here is the pattern that will become in the wilderness experience so common – the complaining turns to a cry to Moses, which is then interpreted as a prayer to the Lord, and there is healing. The sequence presents a symbolic lesson, an illustration of the intercession of the Holy Spirit. The NT will say that in times of suffering Christians do not know how to pray, but the Spirit intercedes for them, changing their cries into the proper prayers (Rom 8).

[6:37]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.

[6:37]  ⁹ 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.

[6:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “when he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).

[6:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:6]  ¹² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[6:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “Philip answered him.”

[6:7]  ¹⁴ 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.