8 Bible Verses about Feeding Groups

And His disciples replied to Him, "Where will a person get enough bread to feed these people in such a deserted place like this?"

But He said to the apostles, "You men give them something to eat." But they replied, "We have only five loaves of [barley] bread [See John 6:9] and two [probably smoked] fish, unless we go and buy [more] food for all these people."

When it became evening, the disciples came to Him and said, "This place is deserted and it is getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the towns and buy food [for their supper]." But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away; you men give them [something] to eat." And they replied, "But we have here [only] five loaves of [barley] bread [See John 6:9] and two [probably smoked] fish."read more.
And He said, "Bring the bread and fish here to me." He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass. Then He took the five loaves of bread and two fish and, looking up to heaven, asked God's blessing on the food, broke it [in pieces], then gave it to the disciples to distribute to the crowds. They all ate until they were full, then gathered up twelve baskets full of the remaining broken pieces. Those eating numbered about five thousand men, in addition to the women and children.

And when the day was nearly over His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is deserted and the day is almost over; send the crowd away so they can go into the surrounding countryside and towns to buy themselves something to eat." But He answered them, "You [men] give them something to eat." And they replied, "Should we go and buy a supply of bread to give them to eat?" [Note: The amount mentioned here indicates that it was two hundred days of a farm laborer's pay, or about $14,000 in 1994].read more.
And He said to them, "How many loaves [of bread] do you have? Go and see." And when had found out, they said, "Five [barley] loaves [See John 6:9] and two [probably smoked] fish." And He ordered all of them to recline in groups on the green grass. So, they reclined in groups of fifty and one hundred. Then He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He asked God's blessing on them. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to His disciples to set in front of the people [to eat]. He divided the two fish among them also and they all ate until they were full. Then they gathered up twelve baskets full of broken pieces [of bread] and also some fish. The number eating the loaves of bread was five thousand men. [Note: This was besides women and children. See Matt. 14:21].

Then late in the day the twelve apostles came and said to Jesus, "Send the crowd away so they can go into the villages and the surrounding countryside to find lodging and food because this place is deserted." But He said to the apostles, "You men give them something to eat." But they replied, "We have only five loaves of [barley] bread [See John 6:9] and two [probably smoked] fish, unless we go and buy [more] food for all these people." For there were about five thousand men [there]. So, He said to His disciples, "Have these people recline [on the grass. See Matt. 14:19] in groups of about fifty each."read more.
So, the disciples did this, and had all the people recline [on the grass in groups]. Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, asked God's blessing on the food. [Then] He broke it [in pieces] and gave it to the disciples to distribute to the crowds. They all ate until they were full, then gathered up twelve baskets [full] of the remaining broken pieces.

So Jesus, looking up and seeing a large crowd coming to Him, said to Philip [Note: He was one of the apostles, whose home town was at nearby Bethsaida. See 1:44], "Where are we going to buy [enough] bread, so that this crowd can eat?" Now He said this to test Philip, for He [already] knew what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, "Not even two hundred coins' worth of bread would be enough to feed them if everyone ate only a little bit." [Note: The amount here indicated was two hundred days of a farm laborer's pay, or about $14,000 in 1994].read more.
[Then] one of His disciples, named Andrew, [who was] Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a little boy here who has five [small] loaves of barley bread and two [probably smoked] fish. But what is this amount for [feeding] so many people?" Jesus answered, "Have these people recline [on the ground]." Now there was a lot of grass in that place. So, the men, numbering about five thousand, reclined [on the grass]. Then Jesus took the loaves of bread, and [after] giving thanks [to God], He distributed [pieces] to those who were reclining. He did the same thing with the fish, [giving them] as much as they wanted. And when the people were [all] full, Jesus said to His disciples, "Gather up the broken pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted." So, they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces left over from the five loaves of barley bread which they had eaten.

In those days, when a large crowd again assembled [i.e., to listen to Jesus' teaching] and did not have anything to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, "I feel deep pity for this crowd because they have continued listening to me for three days now and have nothing [left] to eat. And if I send them home hungry they will become weak on the way, because some of them have come a long distance."read more.
And His disciples replied to Him, "Where will a person get enough bread to feed these people in such a deserted place like this?" And He asked them, "How many loaves of bread do you have?" And they answered, "We have seven loaves." Then He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks to God [for them], He divided the food and gave it to His disciples to set in front of them. They [in turn] set it in front of the crowd. They [also] had a few small fish and after asking God's blessing on them, He ordered these also to be set in front of them. And they [all] ate until they were full, then gathered up seven baskets of broken pieces which were left over. The number [who ate] was about four thousand men [besides women and children. See Matt. 15:38]. Then Jesus sent them away.

He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass. Then He took the five loaves of bread and two fish and, looking up to heaven, asked God's blessing on the food, broke it [in pieces], then gave it to the disciples to distribute to the crowds.