The Feeding of the Five Thousand

(Matthew 14:13–21, Luke 9:10–17, John 6:1–15)

30 Meanwhile, the apostles gathered around Jesus and brought Him news of all they had done and taught. 31 And He said to them, “Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

32 So they went away in a boat by themselves to a solitary place. 33 But many people saw them leaving and recognized them. They ran together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them. 34 When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

35 By now the hour was already late. So the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is already late. 36 Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

37 But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.”

They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii [fn] to give all of them bread to eat?”

38 “Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them.

And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

39 Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all.

42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 And there were five thousand men who had eaten the loaves.