John 6
6
Jesus Feeds a Great Crowd
(Mt 14.13–21; Mk 6.30–44; Lk 9.10–17)
1After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias, as it is also called). 2A large crowd followed him, because they had seen his miracles of healing those who were ill. 3Jesus went up a hill and sat down with his disciples. 4The time for the Passover Festival was near. 5Jesus looked round and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, so he asked Philip, “Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?” 6(He said this to test Philip; actually he already knew what he would do.)
7Philip answered, “For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than 200 silver coins#6.7 silver coins: A silver coin was the daily wage of a rural worker (see Mt 20.2). to buy enough bread.”
8Another of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, said, 9“There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people.”
10 “Make the people sit down,” Jesus told them. (There was a lot of grass there.) So all the people sat down; there were about 5,000 men. 11Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted. 12When they were all full, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste any.” 13So they gathered them all up and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten.
14Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed, the people there said, “Surely this is the Prophet#6.14 the Prophet: See 1.21. who was to come into the world!” 15Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Water
(Mt 14.22–33; Mk 6.45–52)
16When evening came, Jesus' disciples went down to the lake, 17got into a boat, and went back across the lake towards Capernaum. Night came on, and Jesus still had not come to them. 18By then a strong wind was blowing and stirring up the water. 19The disciples had rowed about five or six kilometres when they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20“Don't be afraid,” Jesus told them, “it is I!” 21Then they willingly took him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached land at the place they were heading for.
The People Seek Jesus
22Next day the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake realized that there had been only one boat there. They knew that Jesus had not gone in it with his disciples, but that they had left without him. 23Other boats, which were from Tiberias, came to shore near the place where the crowd had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they got into those boats and went to Capernaum, looking for him.
Jesus the Bread of Life
25When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?”
26Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. 27Do not work for food that goes bad; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”
28So they asked him, “What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?”
29Jesus answered, “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.”
30They replied, “What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31#Ex 16.4, 15; Ps 78.24Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32 “I am telling you the truth,” Jesus said. “What Moses gave you was not#6.32 What Moses gave you was not; or It was not Moses who gave you. the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. 33For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34“Sir,” they asked him, “give us this bread always.”
35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty. 36Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe. 37Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, 38because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. 40For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day.”
41The people started grumbling about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42So they said, “This man is Jesus son of Joseph, isn't he? We know his father and mother. How, then, does he now say he came down from heaven?”
43Jesus answered, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; and I will raise him to life on the last day. 45#Is 54.13The prophets wrote, ‘Everyone will be taught by God.’ Anyone who hears the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46This does not mean that anyone has seen the Father; he who is from God is the only one who has seen the Father. 47I am telling you the truth: he who believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died. 50But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live.”
52This started an angry argument among them. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
53Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. 55For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate. They later died, but those who eat this bread will live for ever.”
59Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60Many of his followers heard this and said, “This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?”
61Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this, so he said to them, “Does this make you want to give up? 62Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before? 63What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit. 64Yet some of you do not believe.” (Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe and which one would betray him.) 65And he added, “This is the very reason I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father makes it possible for him to do so.”
66Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him any more. 67So he asked the twelve disciples, “And you — would you also like to leave?”
68 #
Mt 16.16; Mk 8.29; Lk 9.20 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.”
70Jesus replied, “I chose the twelve of you, didn't I? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71He was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. For Judas, even though he was one of the twelve disciples, was going to betray him.
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John 6: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
John 6
6
1After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. 2And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick. 3And Jesus went up into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 4Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh unto him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat? 6And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7Philip answered him, Two hundred shillings’ worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little. 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, 9There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are these among so many? 10Jesus said, Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; likewise also of the fishes as much as they would. 12And when they were filled, he saith unto his disciples, Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost. 13So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over unto them that had eaten. 14When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said, This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world.
15Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone.
16And when evening came, his disciples went down unto the sea; 17and they entered into a boat, and were going over the sea unto Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18And the sea was rising by reason of a great wind that blew. 19When therefore they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they behold Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the boat: and they were afraid. 20But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat: and straightway the boat was at the land whither they were going.
22On the morrow the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, save one, and that Jesus entered not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples went away alone 23(howbeit there came boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks): 24when the multitude therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? 26Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled. 27Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed. 28They said therefore unto him, What must we do, that we may work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30They said therefore unto him, What then doest thou for a sign, that we may see, and believe thee? what workest thou? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat. 32Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34They said therefore unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36But I said unto you, that ye have seen me, and yet believe not. 37All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
41The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, I am the bread which came down out of heaven. 42And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how doth he now say, I am come down out of heaven? 43Jesus answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me. 46Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he that is from God, he hath seen the Father. 47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.
52The Jews therefore strove one with another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. 54He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me. 58This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever. 59These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
60Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? 61But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth this cause you to stumble? 62What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before? 63It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. 64But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. 65And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father.
66Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, Would ye also go away? 68Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God. 70Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71Now he spake of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
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