Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹After this jJesus went away to the other side of kthe Sea of Galilee, which is lthe Sea of Tiberias. ²And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. ³Jesus went up on mthe mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴Now nthe Passover, the ofeast of the Jews, was at hand. ⁵pLifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to qPhilip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. ⁷rPhilip answered him, “Two hundred denarii1 worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” ⁸One of his disciples, sAndrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five tbarley loaves and two fish, but twhat are they for so many?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” uNow there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, and vwhen he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, w“This is indeed xthe Prophet ywho is to come into the world!”

¹⁵zPerceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus awithdrew again to bthe mountain by himself.

Jesus Walks on Water

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles,2 they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. ²⁰cBut he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

I Am the Bread of Life

²²On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only done boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord ehad given thanks. ²⁴fSo when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and gwent to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, h“Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, iyou are seeking me, not because you saw jsigns, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷kDo not work for the food that perishes, but for lthe food that endures to eternal life, which mthe Son of Man will give to you. For on nhim God the Father has oset his seal.” ²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing pthe works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, qthat you believe in him whom rhe has sent.” ³⁰So they said to him, s“Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ³¹tOur fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, u‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is vhe who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to him, w“Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, x“I am the bread of life; ywhoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷zAll that athe Father gives me will come to me, and bwhoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸For cI have come down from heaven, not to do dmy own will but dthe will of him ewho sent me. ³⁹And fthis is the will of him who sent me, gthat I should lose nothing of hall that he has given me, but iraise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who jlooks on the Son and kbelieves in him lshould have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, m“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴²They said, n“Is not this Jesus, othe son of Joseph, whose father and mother pwe know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me qdraws him. And rI will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets, s‘And they will all be ttaught by God.’ uEveryone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶vnot that anyone has seen the Father except whe who is from God; he xhas seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, truly, I say to you, ywhoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸zI am the bread of life. ⁴⁹aYour fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and bthey died. ⁵⁰cThis is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it dand not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread ethat came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give ffor the life of the world is gmy flesh.”

⁵²The Jews then hdisputed among themselves, saying, i“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of jthe Son of Man and drink his blood, you khave no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood lhas eternal life, and mI will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood nabides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷As othe living Father psent me, and qI live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. ⁵⁸rThis is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread3 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹Jesus4 said these things in the synagogue, as he taught sat Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life

⁶⁰tWhen many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹But Jesus, vknowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? ⁶²Then what if you were to see wthe Son of Man xascending to ywhere he was before? ⁶³zIt is the Spirit who gives life; athe flesh is no help at all. bThe words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But cthere are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus vknew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and dwho it was who would betray him.) ⁶⁵And he said, “This is why I told you ethat no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

⁶⁶fAfter this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus said to gthe twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have hthe words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and iwe have believed, and have come to know, that jyou are kthe Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰Jesus answered them, l“Did I not choose you, gthe twelve? And yet one of you is ma devil.” ⁷¹He spoke of Judas nthe son of Simon Iscariot, for ohe, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.