Psalms 37:16

37:16 The little bit that a godly man owns is better than

the wealth of many evil men, ¹ 

Proverbs 13:25

13:25 The righteous has enough food to satisfy his appetite, ² 

but the belly of the wicked lacks food. ³ 

Matthew 14:20-21

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.

Matthew 15:37-38

15:37 They ⁴  all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 15:38 Not counting children and women, ⁵  there were four thousand men who ate. ⁶ 

Mark 6:42-44

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 ⁷  there were five thousand men ⁸  who ate the bread. ⁹ 

Mark 8:8-9

8:8 Everyone ¹⁰  ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 8:9 There were about four thousand ¹¹  who ate. ¹²  Then he dismissed them. ¹³ 

[37:16]  ¹ tn Heb “Better [is] a little to the godly one than the wealth of many evil ones.” The following verses explain why this is true. Though a godly individual may seem to have only meager possessions, he always has what he needs and will eventually possess the land. The wicked may prosper for a brief time, but will eventually be destroyed by divine judgment and lose everything.

[13:25]  ² tn The noun נֶפֶשׁ (traditionally “soul”; cf. KJV, ASV) here means “appetite” (BDB 660 s.v. 5.a).

[13:25]  ³ tn Heb “he will lack.” The term “food” is supplied in the translation as a clarification. The wicked may go hungry, or lack all they desire, just as the first colon may mean that what the righteous acquire proves satisfying to them.

[15:37]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[15:38]  ⁵ tc ‡ Although most witnesses (B C L W ˹³ 33 Ï f sy^s,p,h mae) read “women and children” instead of “children and women,” it is likely that the majority’s reading is a harmonization to Matt 14:21. “Children and women” is found in early and geographically widespread witnesses (e.g., א D [Θ Ë¹] 579 lat sy^c sa bo), and has more compelling internal arguments on its side, suggesting that this is the original reading. NA²⁷, however, agrees with the majority of witnesses.

[15:38]  ⁶ tn Grk “And those eating were four thousand men, apart from children and women.”

[6:44]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate a somewhat parenthetical remark by the author.

[6:44]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[8:8]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “They.”

[8:9]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn The words “who ate” are not in the Greek text but have been supplied for clarity.

[8:9]  ¹³ 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.