John 6
6
Feeding Five Thousand
(Matthew 14.13-21; Mark 6.30-44; Luke 9.10-17)
1Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also known as Lake Tiberias. 2A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him. 3-4It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down.#6.3,4 sat down: Possibly to teach. Teachers in the ancient world, including Jewish teachers, usually sat down to teach.
5When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?” 6He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do.
7Philip answered, “Don't you know that it would take almost a year's wages#6.7 almost a year's wages: The Greek text has “200 silver coins.” Each coin was worth the average day's wages for a worker. just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?”
8Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples. He spoke up and said, 9“There is a boy here who has five small loaves#6.9 small loaves: These would have been flat and round or in the shape of a bun. of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people?”
10The ground was covered with grass, and Jesus told his disciples to tell everyone to sit down. About 5,000 men were in the crowd. 11Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat.
12The people ate all they wanted, and Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, so that nothing would be wasted. 13The disciples gathered them up and filled twelve large baskets with what was left over from the five barley loaves.
14After the people had seen Jesus work this miracle,#6.14 miracle: See the note at 2.11. they began saying, “This must be the Prophet#6.14 the Prophet: See the note at 1.21. who is to come into the world!” 15Jesus realized that they would try to force him to be their king. So he went up on a mountain, where he could be alone.
Jesus Walks on the Water
(Matthew 14.22-27; Mark 6.45-52)
16That evening, Jesus' disciples went down to the lake. 17They got into a boat and started across for Capernaum. Later that evening Jesus had still not come to them, 18and a strong wind was making the water rough.
19When the disciples had rowed for five or six kilometers, they saw Jesus walking on the water. He kept coming closer to the boat, and they were terrified. 20But he said, “I am Jesus!#6.20 I am Jesus: The Greek text has “I am” (see the note at 8.24). Don't be afraid!” 21The disciples wanted to take him into the boat, but suddenly the boat reached the shore where they were headed.
The Bread That Gives Life
22The people who had stayed on the east side of the lake knew that only one boat had been there. They also knew that Jesus had not left in it with his disciples. But the next day 23some boats from Tiberias sailed near the place where the crowd had eaten the bread for which the Lord had given thanks. 24They saw that Jesus and his disciples had left. Then they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus. 25They found him on the west side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26Jesus answered, “I tell you for certain that you are not looking for me because you saw the miracles,#6.26 miracles: The Greek text has “signs” here and “sign” in verse 30 (see the note at 2.11). but because you ate all the food you wanted. 27#Si 24.19-22. Don't work for food that spoils. Work for food that gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because God the Father has given him the right to do so.”
28“What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked.
29Jesus answered, “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent.”
30They replied, “What miracle will you work, so that we can have faith in you? What will you do? 31#Ex 16.4,15; Ps 78.24; Ws 16.20,21. For example, when our ancestors were in the desert, they were given manna#6.31 manna: When the people of Israel were wandering through the desert, the Lord gave them a special kind of food to eat. It tasted like a wafer and was called “manna,” which in Hebrew means, “What is this?” to eat. It happened just as the Scriptures say, ‘God gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32Jesus then told them, “I tell you for certain that Moses wasn't the one who gave you bread from heaven. My Father is the one who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33And the bread that God gives is the one who came down from heaven to give life to the world.”
34The people said, “Sir, give us this bread and don't ever stop!”
35Jesus replied:
I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty. 36I have told you already that you have seen me and still do not have faith in me. 37Everything and everyone that the Father has given me will come to me, and I won't turn any of them away.
38I didn't come from heaven to do what I want! I came to do what the Father wants me to do. He sent me, 39and he wants to make certain that none of the ones he has given me will be lost. Instead, he wants me to raise them to life on the last day.#6.39 the last day: When God will judge all people. 40My Father wants everyone who sees the Son to have faith in him and to have eternal life. Then I will raise them to life on the last day.
41The people started grumbling because Jesus had said he was the bread that had come down from heaven. 42They were asking each other, “Isn't he Jesus, the son of Joseph? Don't we know his father and mother? How can he say that he has come down from heaven?”
43Jesus told them:
Stop grumbling! 44No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day. 45#Is 54.13. One of the prophets wrote, “God will teach all of them.” And so everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him will come to me.
46The only one who has seen the Father is the one who has come from him. No one else has ever seen the Father. 47I tell you for certain that everyone who has faith in me has eternal life.
48I am the bread that gives life! 49Your ancestors ate manna#6.49 manna: See the note at 6.31. in the desert, and later they died. 50But the bread from heaven has come down, so that no one who eats it will ever die. 51I am that bread from heaven! Everyone who eats it will live forever. My flesh is the life-giving bread I give to the people of this world.
52They started arguing with each other and asked, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?”
53Jesus answered:
I tell you for certain that you won't live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. 54But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. 55My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. 56If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you.
57The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. 58The bread that comes down from heaven isn't like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.
59Jesus was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum when he said these things.
The Words of Eternal Life
60Many of Jesus' disciples heard him and said, “This is too hard for anyone to understand.”
61Jesus knew that his disciples were grumbling. So he asked, “Does this bother you? 62What if you should see the Son of Man go up to heaven where he came from? 63#Ws 9.13-18. The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit. 64But some of you refuse to have faith in me.” Jesus said this, because from the beginning he knew who would have faith in him. He also knew which one would betray him.
65Then Jesus said, “You cannot come to me, unless the Father makes you want to come. That is why I have told these things to all of you.”
66Because of what Jesus said, many of his disciples turned their backs on him and stopped following him. 67Jesus then asked his twelve disciples if they also were going to leave him. 68#Mt 16.16; Mk 8.29; Lk 9.20. Simon Peter answered, “Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. 69We have faith in you, and we are sure that you are God's Holy One.”
70Jesus told his disciples, “I chose all twelve of you, but one of you is a demon!” 71Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.#6.71 Iscariot: This may mean “a man from Kerioth” (a place in Judea). But more probably it means “a man who was a liar” or “a man who was a betrayer.” He would later betray Jesus, even though he was one of the twelve disciples.
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John 6: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
John 6
6
1After these things Jesus went away beyond the sea of Galilee (of Tiberias),
2and there was following him a great multitude, because they were seeing his signs that he was doing on the ailing;
3and Jesus went up to the mount, and he was there sitting with his disciples,
4and the passover was nigh, the feast of the Jews.
5Jesus then having lifted up [his] eyes and having seen that a great multitude doth come to him, saith unto Philip, ‘Whence shall we buy loaves, that these may eat?’ —
6and this he said, trying him, for he himself had known what he was about to do.
7Philip answered him, ‘Two hundred denaries' worth of loaves are not sufficient to them, that each of them may receive some little;’
8one of his disciples — Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter — saith to him,
9‘There is one little lad here who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes, but these — what are they to so many?’
10And Jesus said, ‘Make the men to sit down;’ and there was much grass in the place, the men then sat down, in number, as it were, five thousand,
11and Jesus took the loaves, and having given thanks he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those reclining, in like manner, also of the little fishes as much as they wished.
12And when they were filled, he saith to his disciples, ‘Gather together the broken pieces that are over, that nothing may be lost;’
13they gathered together, therefore, and filled twelve hand-baskets with broken pieces, from the five barley loaves that were over to those having eaten.
14The men, then, having seen the sign that Jesus did, said — ‘This is truly the Prophet, who is coming to the world;’
15Jesus, therefore, having known that they are about to come, and to take him by force that they may make him king, retired again to the mountain himself alone.
16And when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,
17and having entered into the boat, they were going over the sea to Capernaum, and darkness had already come, and Jesus had not come unto them,
18the sea also — a great wind blowing — was being raised,
19having pushed onwards, therefore, about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, they behold Jesus walking on the sea, and coming nigh to the boat, and they were afraid;
20and he saith to them, ‘I am [he], be not afraid;’
21they were willing then to receive him into the boat, and immediately the boat came unto the land to which they were going.
22On the morrow, the multitude that was standing on the other side of the sea, having seen that there was no other little boat there except one — that into which his disciples entered — and that Jesus went not in with his disciples into the little boat, but his disciples went away alone,
23(and other little boats came from Tiberias, nigh the place where they did eat the bread, the Lord having given thanks),
24when therefore the multitude saw that Jesus is not there, nor his disciples, they also themselves did enter into the boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus;
25and having found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when hast thou come hither?’
26Jesus answered them and said, ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were satisfied;
27work not for the food that is perishing, but for the food that is remaining to life ageduring, which the Son of Man will give to you, for him did the Father seal — [even] God.’
28They said therefore unto him, ‘What may we do that we may work the works of God?’
29Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that ye may believe in him whom He did send.’
30They said therefore to him, ‘What sign, then, dost thou, that we may see and may believe thee? what dost thou work?
31our fathers the manna did eat in the wilderness, according as it is having been written, Bread out of the heaven He gave them to eat.’
32Jesus, therefore, said to them, ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread out of the heaven; but my Father doth give you the true bread out of the heaven;
33for the bread of God is that which is coming down out of the heaven, and giving life to the world.’
34They said, therefore, unto him, ‘Sir, always give us this bread.’
35And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of the life; he who is coming unto me may not hunger, and he who is believing in me may not thirst — at any time;
36but I said to you, that ye also have seen me, and ye believe not;
37all that the Father doth give to me will come unto me; and him who is coming unto me, I may in no wise cast without,
38because I have come down out of the heaven, not that I may do my will, but the will of Him who sent me.
39‘And this is the will of the Father who sent me, that all that He hath given to me I may not lose of it, but may raise it up in the last day;
40and this is the will of Him who sent me, that every one who is beholding the Son, and is believing in him, may have life age-during, and I will raise him up in the last day.’
41The Jews, therefore, were murmuring at him, because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down out of the heaven;’
42and they said, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we have known? how then saith this one — Out of the heaven I have come down?’
43Jesus answered, therefore, and said to them, ‘Murmur not one with another;
44no one is able to come unto me, if the Father who sent me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day;
45it is having been written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God; every one therefore who heard from the Father, and learned, cometh to me;
46not that any one hath seen the Father, except he who is from God, he hath seen the Father.
47‘Verily, verily, I say to you, He who is believing in me, hath life age-during;
48I am the bread of the life;
49your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and they died;
50this is the bread that out of the heaven is coming down, that any one may eat of it, and not die.
51‘I am the living bread that came down out of the heaven; if any one may eat of this bread he shall live — to the age; and the bread also that I will give is my flesh, that I will give for the life of the world.’
52The Jews, therefore, were striving with one another, saying, ‘How is this one able to give us [his] flesh to eat?’
53Jesus, therefore, said to them, ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, If ye may not eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and may not drink his blood, ye have no life in yourselves;
54he who is eating my flesh, and is drinking my blood, hath life age-during, and I will raise him up in the last day;
55for my flesh truly is food, and my blood truly is drink;
56he who is eating my flesh, and is drinking my blood, doth remain in me, and I in him.
57‘According as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, he also who is eating me, even that one shall live because of me;
58this is the bread that came down out of the heaven; not as your fathers did eat the manna, and died; he who is eating this bread shall live — to the age.’
59These things he said in a synagogue, teaching in Capernaum;
60many, therefore, of his disciples having heard, said, ‘This word is hard; who is able to hear it?’
61And Jesus having known in himself that his disciples are murmuring about this, said to them, ‘Doth this stumble you?
62if then ye may behold the Son of Man going up where he was before?
63the spirit it is that is giving life; the flesh doth not profit anything; the sayings that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life;
64but there are certain of you who do not believe;’ for Jesus had known from the beginning who they are who are not believing, and who is he who will deliver him up,
65and he said, ‘Because of this I have said to you — No one is able to come unto me, if it may not have been given him from my Father.’
66From this [time] many of his disciples went away backward, and were no more walking with him,
67Jesus, therefore, said to the twelve, ‘Do ye also wish to go away?’
68Simon Peter, therefore, answered him, ‘Sir, unto whom shall we go? thou hast sayings of life age-during;
69and we have believed, and we have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
70Jesus answered them, ‘Did not I choose you — the twelve? and of you — one is a devil.
71And he spake of Judas, Simon's [son], Iscariot, for he was about to deliver him up, being one of the twelve.
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