Mark
6: 30-44
Jesus Feeds the
Five Thousand
30The
apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many
people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them,
"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."
32So they went
away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33But many who saw them leaving recognized them and
ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had
compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching
them many things.
35By this time
it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place,"
they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the
surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
37But he
answered, "You give them something to eat."
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?"
38"How
many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
When they found out, they said, "Five—and
two fish."
39Then Jesus
directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups
of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking
the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the
loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the
two fish among them all. 42They
all ate and were satisfied, 43and
the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who
had eaten was five thousand.
