Open English Translation YHN (JHN) Chapter 6

6 After all this, Yeshua crossed the lake in a boat.[fn] 2 A large crowd followed him because they’d seen his miraculous healings of sick people. 3 Yeshua climbed a hill and sat there with his apprentices. 4 At that time, it was getting close to the Jewish Feast of Passover. 5 When Yeshua looked out and saw the large crowd coming, he asked Philip, “Where can we get enough food from to feed all this crowd?” 6 But he was only saying this to test Philip because he already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered, “To buy even just a snack for this many people would take several months’ wages!”

8 Now one of Yeshua’s apprentices, Simon Peter’s brother, Andrew, said to Yeshua, 9 “There’s a young boy here with five buns and two small cooked fish, but that wouldn’t even start to feed this crowd.”

10 But Yeshua told them to get all the people to sit down as there was a large grassy area. So they all sat down—some five thousand men were counted. 11 Then he took the buns and gave thanks to God, and started passing around both the buns and the fish, and everyone ate as much as they wanted. 12 Once everyone was full, Yeshua got his apprentices to collect the leftover fragments so as not to waste anything. 13 So they gathered the leftovers and filled twelve baskets with leftover bread.

14 The people who had witnessed this and other miracles said, “This really is the prophet that God promised to send!” 15 But Yeshua knew that they intended to come and grab him to proclaim him as their king, so he moved out of the crowd and on up the hill.

16 As it moved into evening, Yeshua’s apprentices went back down to the lake 17 and having boarded the boat, they set out across the lake toward Capernaum. By then it was dark, and there was still no sign of Yeshua. 18 Then a strong wind hit the lake and the water got rough. 19 When they had rowed about five kilometres, they saw Yeshua walking on top of the lake and approaching the boat, and they were very scared. 20 But he told them, “Don’t worry—it’s me.” 21 After that they were willing to let him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at their arrival place.

22 The next day, the crowd looked across the lake and saw that only one small boat had crossed, and they knew that only Yeshua’s apprentices had boarded that boat and left, and not Yeshua himself. 23 Other boats came across from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread after the master had given thanks. 24 So when all the people saw that Yeshua wasn’t around and his apprentices had left, they went off looking for Yeshua in Capernaum.

25 When they found him there across the lake, they queried, “Teacher, how did you get here?”

26 “Honestly, I know that you’re not looking for me because you saw God working miracles,” Yeshua answered, “but because you all had plenty of food to fill you up. 27 Don’t just work for the food which goes off, but for the food which lasts forever—the food which humanity’s child will give to you because God the father has put his mark of approval on him.”

28 Puzzled, they asked him, “What should we be doing if we want to work for God?”

29 He answered, “Doing God’s work is putting your trust in the one that he sent here.”

30 “If so,” they said, “what miracle will you do for us to see so that we can believe that you came from God? What can you do? 31 [ref]Our ancestors ate the manna[fn] out in the wilderness, just like Moses wrote, ‘He gave them bread from the sky to eat.’ ”

32 Yeshua said to them, “Actually I can tell you that it wasn’t Moses who gave them bread from heaven, but my father gives you the real bread from heaven, 33 because God’s bread is the one who came down from heaven and who gives life to the world.”

34 So they requested, “Mister, keep giving us that bread.”

35 “I am the bread that gives life,” Yeshua answered, “anyone who comes to me will never hunger, and the one believing in me, will never be thirsty again. 36 But as I said already, although you have seen me you refuse to believe me. 37 Everyone that the father gives to me will come to me, and I certainly won’t turn away anyone who comes to me, 38 because I came down from heaven, not to do what I want, but to do what the one who sent me wants. 39 And what he wants is for me to not lose anyone that he’s given to me, but to bring them back to life on the last day. 40 My father wants everyone who watches me and believes in me to live forever, because I will bring them back to life on that final day.”

41 This little speech made the religious leaders grumble about him because he had said that he was the food that came down from heaven, 42 as they figured out, “This is Yeshua the son of Yosef and so we know his parents. So how can he say that he came down from heaven?”

43 Yeshua scolded them, “Don’t be grumbling to each other. 44 No one can join me unless the father who sent me attracts them, and then I’ll be bringing them back to life on that final day. 45 [ref]The prophets wrote that the people will be taught by God. And everyone who’s heard and learned from the father comes to me. 46 Not that any person has seen the father—only the one who came from God has seen him. 47 I tell you sincerely: anyone who believes in me will live forever. 48 I am the bread that gives true life. 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all went on to die. 50 But I am the bread that came down from heaven and anyone who eats this will not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven and if anyone eats this bread, he will live through to the next age.”

52 At this point, the religious leaders began to argue with each other, “How could this man give us his flesh to eat?”

53 So Yeshua explained, “Indeed if you don’t eat my flesh and drink my blood, you aren’t truly alive! 54 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will gain eternal life—I will bring them back to life on that final day. 55 For my flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. 56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I will live in him. 57 The father is alive and sent me here, and I am alive because of Him, so also the person who eats me will be alive because of me. 58 Unlike your ancestors who ate that bread from the sky and then died, anyone who eats this bread that came down from heaven will live through to the next age.”

59 Yeshua taught all of this in the meeting hall there in Capernaum. 60 But even many of his followers who heard it said, “This is difficult teaching—it’s too hard to take.”

61 But Yeshua already knew inside that his followers were grumbling about this and asked them, “Do you find this offensive? 62 What if you were to see humanity’s child ascending to where he came from? 63 It’s the spirit that is the source of life, not the body. The concepts that I’ve taught you are all spiritual and life-giving. 64 But there are some here who don’t believe me.” Actually, Yeshua had already known from the beginning just who would believe and which person would betray him 65 so he said, “That’s why I told you that no one can come to me unless the father has given them to me.”

66 After this, many of his followers went back and no longer accompanied him around.

67 So Yeshua said to his twelve apprentices, “Don’t you want to leave as well?”

68 [ref]“Master,” Simon answered, “if we went, who would we follow then? You’re the only one who teaches about living forever. 69 We believe and know that you are the holy son of God.”

70 Yeshua responded, “Didn’t I choose all twelve of you myself? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 (He was talking about Yudas, Simon Iscariot’s son, because he was the one who would go on to betray him.)