MARK 6:37 Parallel Verse View

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Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) But Yeshua answered them, “You give them something to eat.”
¶ They complained, “If we go, should we buy several months wages worth of bread so we can give all of them something to eat?”

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT But he, answering, said to them, “You give them to eat.”
¶  And they say to him, “Having gone away, might we buy loaves of 200 denarii and give them to them to eat?”

UST Jesus replied, “I want you to provide them with food to eat!”
¶  They responded, “Surely you do not want us to go and spend 200 coins to buy enough loaves of bread to provide these people with food!”

BSB 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?”

6:37 A denarius was customarily a day’s wage for a laborer; see Matthew 20:2.

BLB But answering, He said to them, "You give to them to eat." And they say to Him, "Having gone, shall we buy two hundred denarii of bread and give them to eat?"

AICNT But he answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

OEB But Jesus answered, ‘It is for you to give them something to eat.’ ‘Are we to go and spend almost a year’s wages on bread,’ they asked, ‘to give them to eat?’

WEBBE But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”
¶ They asked him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii[fn] worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

6:37 200 denarii was about 7 or 8 months wages for an agricultural labourer.

WMBB (Same as above including footnotes)

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

LSV And He answering said to them, “You give them to eat,” and they say to Him, “Having gone away, may we buy two hundred denarii worth of loaves, and give to them to eat?”

FBV But Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”
¶ “What? We'd need more than six month's pay[fn] to buy bread to feed all these people,” the disciples replied.

6:37 Literally, “200 denarii.”

TCNT But Jesus answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

T4T But he replied, “No, you yourselves give them something to eat!” They replied, “◄We could not buy enough bread to feed this crowd, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days!/How could we buy enough bread to feed this mob, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days?►” [RHQ]

LEB But he answered and[fn] said to them, “You give them something[fn] to eat.” And they said to him, “Should we go and[fn] purchase bread for two hundred denarii and give it[fn] to them to eat?”

6:37 *Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“answered”) has been translated as a finite verb

6:37 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation

6:37 *Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“go”) has been translated as a finite verb

BBE But he said to them in answer, Give them food yourselves. And they said to him, Are we to go and get bread for two hundred pence, and give it to them?

Moff He replied, "Give them some food, yourselves." They said, "Are we to go and buy ten pounds worth of food and give them that to eat?'

Wymth "Give them food yourselves," He replied. "Are we," they asked, "to go and buy two hundred shillings' worth of bread and give them food?"

ASV But he answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred shillings’ worth of bread, and give them to eat?

DRA And he answering said to them: Give you them to eat. And they said to him: Let us go and buy bread for two hundred pence, and we will give them to eat.

YLT And he answering said to them, 'Give ye them to eat,' and they say to him, 'Having gone away, may we buy two hundred denaries' worth of loaves, and give to them to eat?'

Drby And he answering said to them, Give ye them to eat. And they say to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them to eat?

RV But he answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
(But he answered and said unto them, Give ye/you_all them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? )

SLT And having answered, he said to them, Give ye them to eat. And they say to him, Having gone, should we buy loaves of two hundred drachmas, and give them to eat?

Wbstr He answered and said to them, Give ye them to eat. And they say to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?

KJB-1769 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
(He answered and said unto them, Give ye/you_all them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? )

KJB-1611 He answered and said vnto them, Giue yee them to eate. And they say vnto him, Shall we goe and buy two hundred [fn]penniworth of bread, and giue them to eate?
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above apart from footnotes)

6:37 The Rom. penie is seuen pence halfe penie as Mat. 18.28

Bshps He aunswered and sayde vnto them: geue ye them to eate. And they saide vnto him: Shall we go and bye two hundred penyworth of bread, & geue them to eate?
(He answered and said unto them: give ye/you_all them to eat. And they said unto him: Shall we go and bye two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?)

Gnva But he answered, and said vnto them, Giue yee them to eate. And they said vnto him, Shall we goe, and buy two hundreth peny worth of bread, and giue them to eate?
(But he answered, and said unto them, Give ye/you_all them to eat. And they said unto him, Shall we go, and buy two hundredth penny worth of bread, and give them to eat? )

Cvdl But Iesus answered and sayde vnto them: geue ye them to eate. And they sayde vnto him: Shal we go then, and bye two hundreth peny worth of bred, and geue them to eate?
(But Yesus/Yeshua answered and said unto them: give ye/you_all them to eat. And they said unto him: Shall we go then, and bye two hundredth penny worth of bread, and give them to eat?)

TNT He answered and sayde vnto them: geve ye them to eate. And they sayde vnto him: shall we goo and bye ii.C. penyworth of breed and geve them to eate?
(He answered and said unto them: give ye/you_all them to eat. And they said unto him: shall we go and bye 2C. pennyworth of bread and give them to eat? )

Wycl And he answeride, and seide to hem, Yyue ye to hem to ete. And thei seiden to hym, Go we, and bie we looues with two hundrid pens, and we schulen yyue to hem to ete.
(And he answered, and said to hem, Give ye/you_all to hem to eat. And they said to him, Go we, and buy we loaves with two hundred pens, and we should give to hem to eat.)

Luth JEsus aber antwortete und sprach zu ihnen: Gebet ihr ihnen zu essen! Und sie sprachen zu ihm: Sollen wir denn hingehen und zweihundert Pfennig wert Brot kaufen und ihnen zu essen geben?
(Yesus but replied and spoke to/for to_them: prayer you(pl)/their/her to_them to/for eat! And they/she/them said to/for him: Should we/us because/than go_there and two-hundred Pfennig value/worth bread buy and to_them to/for eat give?)

ClVg Et respondens ait illis: Date illis vos manducare. Et dixerunt ei: Euntes emamus ducentis denariis panes, et dabimus illis manducare.[fn]
(And responding he_said to_them: Give to_them you(pl) to_eat. And they_said to_him: Going we_buy two-hundreds with_denarii bread/food, and we_will_give to_them to_eat. )

6.37 Date illis. Provocat apostolos ad fractionem panis, ut illis se non habere testantibus, magnitudino signi notesceret. Et insinuans, quia quotidie per eos jejuna corda sunt pascenda, cum eorum exemplis vel verbis ad amanda cœlestia suscitamur. Notandum, quod hoc panum miraculum Joannes scripturus præmisit, quod proximum esset Pascha. Matthæus et Marcus hoc, interfecto Joanne, continuo esse factum dicunt: unde colligitur Joannem imminente Pascha fuisse decollatum, et alio sequente Pascha crucifixum Dominum.

6.37 Give to_them. Provocat apostles to fractionem bread/food, as to_them himself not/no to_have testantibus, magnitudino signi notesceret. And insinuating, because daily through them yeyuna hearts are pascenda, when/with their examples or with_words to amanda heaven suscitamur. Note, that this bread/food miracle Yoannes scripturus sent_ahead, that next_door was Passover. Matthew and Marcus hoc, interfecto Yoanne, continuously to_be done they_say: from_where/who is_collected Yoannem imminent Passover to_have_been decollatum, and another sequente Passover crucifix the_Master.

UGNT ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν. καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, ἀπελθόντες, ἀγοράσωμεν δηναρίων διακοσίων ἄρτους, καὶ δώσομεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν?
(ho de apokritheis eipen autois, dote autois humeis fagein. kai legousin autōi, apelthontes, agorasōmen daʸnariōn diakosiōn artous, kai dōsomen autois fagein?)

SBL-GNT ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν. καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Ἀπελθόντες ἀγοράσωμεν δηναρίων διακοσίων ἄρτους καὶ ⸀δώσομεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν;
(ho de apokritheis eipen autois; Dote autois humeis fagein. kai legousin autōi; Apelthontes agorasōmen daʸnariōn diakosiōn artous kai ⸀dōsomen autois fagein;)

RP-GNT Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν. Καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, Ἀπελθόντες ἀγοράσωμεν δηναρίων διακοσίων ἄρτους, καὶ δῶμεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν;
(Ho de apokritheis eipen autois, Dote autois humeis fagein. Kai legousin autōi, Apelthontes agorasōmen daʸnariōn diakosiōn artous, kai dōmen autois fagein;)

TC-GNT Ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν. Καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, Ἀπελθόντες ἀγοράσωμεν [fn]δηναρίων διακοσίων ἄρτους, καὶ [fn]δῶμεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν;
(Ho de apokritheis eipen autois, Dote autois humeis fagein. Kai legousin autōi, Apelthontes agorasōmen daʸnariōn diakosiōn artous, kai dōmen autois fagein; )

6:37 δηναριων διακοσιων ¦ διακοσιων δηναριων TR

6:37 δωμεν ¦ δωσομεν ECM^† NA SBL TH WH

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 6:30–44: Jesus did a miracle to feed more than five thousand people

Here Mark resumed the story about Jesus and his twelve apostles. In this section the twelve apostles came back to Jesus and told him about their mission in the Jewish villages. Then Jesus and the apostles went away to find a quiet place to rest. But crowds of people came there to see Jesus. Jesus taught the crowds of people and then did a miracle in order to give them all food to eat.

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (NIV)

The Feeding of the Five Thousand (NET)

Jesus fed five thousand people in a miraculous way

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 14:13–21; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–14. See also a similar story, where Jesus fed four thousand people, in Matthew 15:32–39 and Mark 8:1–10.

Paragraph 6:33–38

Many people saw Jesus and the twelve apostles leaving and followed them. Jesus had compassion on them and taught them. When evening came, the apostles wanted Jesus to send the crowds away, because there was nothing for the people to eat. The apostles did not know any way to feed so many people.

6:37a

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

But Jesus said to them, “You^(plur) yourselves give them something to eat.”
Jesus responded, “It is you^(plur) who must give them food.”
But Jesus told his disciples that it was they themselves who should give the people food.

But: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as But here introduces what Jesus said. What he said was not what the disciples expected him to say. If you have a connecting word that can be used in this way, use it here. Otherwise you could start 6:37 without a connecting word. For example:

He replied… (NJB)

“You yourselves…” (GNT)

You give them something to eat: The pronoun You is emphatic in the Greek. It is also plural. The BSB has added the word something to make the English natural.

Here are some ways to translate Jesus’ words here:

You yourselves give them something to eat! (GNT)

It is you who must feed them!

6:37b–c

In the Greek, 6:37b–c is a single rhetorical question. See the General Comment on 6:37b–c at the end of 6:37c for ways to reorder the parts of this question.

This rhetorical question expresses both surprise and mild rebuke. The disciples were astonished that Jesus asked them to feed so many people. The request also seemed foolish. They did not know how they could buy enough food to feed so many people.

Here are several ways to translate this expression:

As a rhetorical question. For example:
Do you expect us to go and spend two hundred denarii on bread to feed all these people?
As a statement. For example:
Surely you do not think we should go and spend two hundred silver coins on food in order to feed all these people!
As a tag question. For example:
Surely you do not think we should go and spend two hundred silver coins on food in order to feed all these people, do you?
As one exclamatory statement and one rhetorical question. For example, the NIV says:
That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?
As a rhetorical question followed by an exclamatory statement. For example, the NLT96 says:
“With what?” they asked. “It would take a small fortune to buy food for all this crowd!”

Use a form that is natural to express surprise and rebuke in your language.

6:37b

They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii

They asked him, “Do you want us to take two hundred silver coins and spend it all on bread
They said, “That much bread would cost as much as two hundred days’ wages! Do you really want us to go and spend that much money on bread
The disciples said to Jesus, “But that would take an extremely large amount of money! How do you^(sing) expect us to buy enough bread/food

Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii: The disciples thought that Jesus wanted them to buy food for all the people. They estimated how much money they would need to buy enough food to feed the large crowd. See the next note.

two hundred denarii: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as two hundred denarii refers to two hundred silver Roman coins called “denarii.” Workers in Jesus’ time earned about twenty-five of these coins each month, so it would take about eight months for a worker to earn two hundred of them. Some English versions, such as the BSB, translate this literally as “two hundred denarii.” The BSB translates this Greek phrase as “eight months of a man’s wages” and the NIV11 translates it as “more than half a year's wages” in order to show how long it took for a worker to earn two hundred denarii.

Most readers today will not know how much money “two hundred denarii” refers to. The main idea is that is was a large sum of money, probably much more than the disciples were able to pay.

Here are some other ways to translate the phrase two hundred denarii:

two hundred silver coins (GNT)

almost a year’s wages (CEV)

We would all have to work a month to earn enough money (NCV)

a small fortune (NLT96)

You should avoid translating this phrase with a term for the particular kind of currency used in your area, for two reasons:

It would not be historically accurate.
When the value of your currency changes your translation would become outdated.

6:37c

to give all of them bread to eat?”

so that we can give it to them to eat?
and come and give it to them to eat?”
to feed them?”

to give all of them bread to eat: The pronoun them refers to the crowd of people.

The clause to give all of them bread to eat functions as a purpose clause. The purpose for spending two hundred denarii on bread would be to feed the people. So in many languages it may be natural to translate this as:

so that we can give it to them to eat

in order to feed them

bread: Bread was the most common and inexpensive food at that time. In this context, the word bread probably refers to round loaves of flat bread. The Greek word is plural here and in 6:38a. It could be translated as “loaves,” or “loaves of bread” in both places. Some languages may use a plural form of bread like “breads.”

If there is no word that people know for bread, you may translate bread as “food” (as in the NLT). However, in 6:38c the disciples counted units (loaves) of bread. If you use a generic word such as “food” here, you should consider whether it is natural in your language to count units or servings of it.

You should not substitute a different kind of food, because these verses are talking about an event that actually happened. Refer to how you translated bread in 2:26b.

In some areas, people may not be familiar with bread. In other areas, they may consider bread to be a snack rather than a staple food. If this is true in your area, you may want to add a footnote. For example, the TRT has this footnote:

Bread and fish were the main foods for the Jews. These loaves of bread were round, thick and flat in shape. Five of them would be enough to feed about two people one meal.

General Comment on 6:37b–c

It may be more natural in your language to give the cost of the bread at the beginning or end of these verse parts. For example:

They said to him, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” (NIV)

They asked, “Do you want us to feed them by going and buying bread at the cost of two hundred silver coins?”

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-contrast

δὲ

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὁ Δέ ἀποκριθείς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς δότε αὐτοῖς Ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν Καί λέγουσιν αὐτῷ Ἀπελθόντες ἀγοράσωμεν δηναρίων διακοσίων ἄρτους καί δώσομεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν)

Here, the word But introduces what Jesus says in a contrast with what the disciples asked him to do. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a word or phrase that introduces this kind of contrast, or you could leave But untranslated. Alternate translation: [However,]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

ἀπελθόντες, ἀγοράσωμεν δηναρίων διακοσίων ἄρτους, καὶ δώσομεν αὐτοῖς φαγεῖν?

The disciples are using the question form to show that Jesus’ command is absurd or impossible. If you would not use the question form for this purpose in your language, you could translate this as a statement or an exclamation. Alternate translation: [We cannot go away and buy loaves of 200 denarii and give them to them to eat.] or [We could not go away and buy enough loaves to give to them to eat even if we had 200 denarii!]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / possession

δηναρίων διακοσίων ἄρτους

˱of˲_denarii two_hundred loaves

Here, the disciples are using the possessive form to describe loaves that are worth 200 denarii. If this is not clear in your language, you could express the idea in another way. Alternate translation: [loaves worth 200 denarii] or [loaves with 200 denarii]

Note 4 topic: translate-bmoney

δηναρίων διακοσίων

˱of˲_denarii two_hundred

The word denarii refers to silver coins, each equivalent to about one day’s wage for a hired worker. You could try to express this amount in terms of current monetary values, but that might cause your Bible translation to become outdated and inaccurate, since those values can change over time. So instead you might state something more general or give the equivalent in wages. Alternate translation: [of 200 silver coins] or [of 200 days’ wages]