Matthew 14:13-21 - The Feeding Of Five Thousand

¹³ When Jesus heard about it, He withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed Him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ As He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd, felt compassion for them, and healed their sick.

¹⁵ When evening came, the disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶ “They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to Him.

¹⁸ “Bring them here to Me,” He said. ¹⁹ Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ Everyone ate and was filled. Then they picked up 12 baskets full of leftover pieces! ²¹ Now those who ate were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all that they had done and taught. ³¹ He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and 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 the boat by themselves to a remote place, ³³ but many saw them leaving and recognized them. People ran there by land from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. ³⁴ So as He stepped ashore, He saw a huge crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then He began to teach them many things.

³⁵ When it was already late, His disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late! ³⁶ Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷ “You give them something to eat,” He responded.

They said to Him, “Should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸ And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.”

When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

³⁹ Then He instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in ranks of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² Everyone ate and was filled. ⁴³ Then they picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ Now those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.

¹⁰ When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus all that they had done. He took them along and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. ¹¹ When the crowds found out, they followed Him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and cured those who needed healing.

¹² Late in the day, the Twelve approached and said to Him, “Send the crowd away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find food and lodging, because we are in a deserted place here.”

¹³ “You give them something to eat,” He told them.

“We have no more than five loaves and two fish,” they said, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ (For about 5,000 men were there.)

Then He told His disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about 50 each.” ¹⁵ They did so, and had them all sit down. ¹⁶ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them. He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. ¹⁷ Everyone ate and was filled. Then they picked up 12 baskets of leftover pieces.

¹ After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ² And a huge crowd was following Him because they saw the signs that He was performing by healing the sick. ³ So Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with His disciples.

⁴ Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. ⁵ Therefore, when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward Him, He asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so these people can eat?” ⁶ He asked this to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.”

⁸ One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, ⁹ “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”

¹⁰ Then Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”

There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. The men numbered about 5,000. ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.

¹² When they were full, He told His disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” ¹³ So they collected them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When the people saw the sign He had done, they said, “This really is the Prophet who was to come into the world!” ¹⁵ Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.