Jesus
Feeds the
Five
Thousand
1
Some time
after
this,
Jesus
crossed to
the far
shore of
the Sea of
Galilee
(that is,
the Sea of
Tiberias),
2 and a
great
crowd of
people
followed
him
because
they saw
the signs
he had
performed
by healing
the sick.
3 Then
Jesus went
up on a
mountainside
and sat
down with
his
disciples.
4 The
Jewish
Passover
Festival
was near.
5 When
Jesus
looked up
and saw a
great
crowd
coming
toward
him, he
said to
Philip,
“Where
shall we
buy bread
for these
people to
eat?”
6 He
asked this
only to
test him,
for he
already
had in
mind what
he was
going to
do.
7 Philip
answered
him, “It
would take
more than
half a
year’s
wages to
buy enough
bread for
each one
to have a
bite!”
8 Another
of his
disciples,
Andrew,
Simon
Peter’s
brother,
spoke up,
9 “Here is
a boy with
five small
barley
loaves and
two small
fish, but
how far
will they
go among
so many?”
10 Jesus
said,
“Have the
people sit
down.”
There was
plenty of
grass in
that
place, and
they sat
down
(about
five
thousand
men were
there).
11 Jesus
then took
the
loaves,
gave
thanks,
and
distributed
to those
who were
seated as
much as
they
wanted. He
did the
same with
the fish.
12 When
they had
all had
enough to
eat, he
said to
his
disciples,
“Gather
the pieces
that are
left over.
Let
nothing be
wasted.”
13 So they
gathered
them and
filled
twelve
baskets
with the
pieces of
the five
barley
loaves
left over
by those
who had
eaten.
14 After
the people
saw the
sign Jesus
performed,
they began
to say,
“Surely
this is
the
Prophet
who is to
come into
the
world.”
15 Jesus,
knowing
that they
intended
to come
and make
him king
by force,
withdrew
again to a
mountain
by
himself.
Jesus
Walks on
the Water
16 When
evening
came, his
disciples
went down
to the
lake,
17 where
they got
into a
boat and
set off
across the
lake for
Capernaum.
By now it
was dark,
and Jesus
had not
yet joined
them.
18 A
strong
wind was
blowing
and the
waters
grew
rough.
19 When
they had
rowed
about
three or
four
miles,
they saw
Jesus
approaching
the boat,
walking on
the water;
and they
were
frightened.
20 But he
said to
them, “It
is I;
don’t be
afraid.”
21 Then
they were
willing to
take him
into the
boat, and
immediately
the boat
reached
the shore
where they
were
heading.
22 The
next day
the crowd
that had
stayed on
the
opposite
shore of
the lake
realized
that only
one boat
had been
there, and
that Jesus
had not
entered it
with his
disciples,
but that
they had
gone away
alone.
23 Then
some boats
from
Tiberias
landed
near the
place
where the
people had
eaten the
bread
after the
Lord had
given
thanks.
24 Once
the crowd
realized
that
neither
Jesus nor
his
disciples
were
there,
they got
into the
boats and
went to
Capernaum
in search
of Jesus.
Jesus the
Bread of
Life
25 When
they found
him on the
other side
of the
lake, they
asked him,
“Rabbi,
when did
you get
here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
27 Do not
work for
food that
spoils,
but for
food that
endures to
eternal
life,
which the
Son of Man
will give
you. For
on him God
the Father
has placed
his seal
of
approval.”
28 Then
they asked
him, “What
must we do
to do the
works God
requires?”
29 Jesus
answered,
“The work
of God is
this: to
believe in
the one he
has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?
31 Our
ancestors
ate the
manna in
the
wilderness;
as it is
written:
‘He gave
them bread
from
heaven to
eat.’”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the
bread of
God is the
bread that
comes down
from
heaven and
gives life
to the
world.”
34 “Sir,”
they said,
“always
give us
this
bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.
37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
40 For my
Father’s
will is
that
everyone
who looks
to the Son
and
believes
in him
shall have
eternal
life, and
I will
raise them
up at the
last day.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
42 They
said, “Is
this not
Jesus, the
son of
Joseph,
whose
father and
mother we
know? How
can he now
say, ‘I
came down
from
heaven’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.
46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.
47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.
50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.
51 I am
the living
bread that
came down
from
heaven.
Whoever
eats this
bread will
live
forever.
This bread
is my
flesh,
which I
will give
for the
life of
the
world.”
52 Then
the Jews
began to
argue
sharply
among
themselves,
“How can
this man
give us
his flesh
to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
59 He said
this while
teaching
in the
synagogue
in
Capernaum.
Many
Disciples
Desert
Jesus
60 On
hearing
it, many
of his
disciples
said,
“This is a
hard
teaching.
Who can
accept
it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?
62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
65 He went
on to say,
“This is
why I told
you that
no one can
come to me
unless the
Father has
enabled
them.”
66 From
this time
many of
his
disciples
turned
back and
no longer
followed
him.
67 “You do
not want
to leave
too, do
you?”
Jesus
asked the
Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 We have
come to
believe
and to
know that
you are
the Holy
One of
God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”
71 (He
meant
Judas, the
son of
Simon
Iscariot,
who,
though one
of the
Twelve,
was later
to betray
him.)