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.”