John 6
6
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
1After this #For ver. 1-13, see Matt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17 Jesus went away to the other side of #See Matt. 4:18 the Sea of Galilee, which is #ch. 21:1the 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 #ver. 15the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4Now #ch. 2:13; 11:55; See Ex. 12 the Passover, the #ch. 5:1; 7:2feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5#Luke 6:20 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to #ch. 1:44Philip, “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. 7#[Mark 6:37]Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii#6:7 A denarius was a day’s wage for a laborer worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8One of his disciples, #ch. 1:40, 44Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9“There is a boy here who has five #2 Kgs. 4:42, 43barley loaves and two fish, but #2 Kgs. 4:42, 43what are they for so many?” 10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” #[Mark 6:39]Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11Jesus then took the loaves, and #ver. 23; See Matt. 15:36when 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, #See ch. 4:19 “This is indeed #ch. 1:21; 7:40; See Matt. 21:11 the Prophet #ch. 11:27; See Matt. 11:3who is to come into the world!”
15 # [ch. 12:12-15] Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus #For ver. 15-21, see Matt. 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-51; [Matt. 8:18] withdrew again to #ver. 3the 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,#6:19 Greek twenty-five or thirty stadia; a stadion was about 607 feet or 185 meters they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20#[Luke 24:38, 39]But 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 #ch. 21:8one 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 #ver. 11had given thanks. 24#For ver. 24, 25, [Matt. 14:34-36; Mark 6:53-56] So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and #ver. 17, 59went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, #See ch. 1:38“Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, #ver. 24 you are seeking me, not because you saw #ver. 2signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27#Isa. 55:2 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for #[ver. 35, 50, 51, 54, 58] the food that endures to eternal life, which #See Dan. 7:13 the Son of Man will give to you. For on #[ch. 5:36, 37; 10:36] him God the Father has #[Ezek. 9:4; Rom. 4:11; 1 Cor. 9:2; 2 Tim. 2:19]; See ch. 3:33set his seal.” 28Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing #1 Cor. 15:58; Rev. 2:26the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, #1 John 3:23 that you believe in him whom #See ch. 3:17he has sent.” 30So they said to him, #See Matt. 12:38“Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31#ver. 49, 58; Ex. 16:15; Num. 11:7-9 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, #Cited from Neh. 9:15; [Ps. 78:24, 25; 105:40; 1 Cor. 10:3]‘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 #ver. 50he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34They said to him, #See ch. 4:15, 33“Sir, give us this bread always.”
35Jesus said to them, #ver. 41, 48, 51; [ver. 58] “I am the bread of life; #ch. 4:14; 7:37; [ch. 5:40; Matt. 11:28; Rev. 7:16]whoever 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. 37#ver. 39; ch. 17:2 All that #ch. 10:29; 17:6, 9, 24 the Father gives me will come to me, and #ch. 10:28; 17:12whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For #See ch. 3:13 I have come down from heaven, not to do #See ch. 5:30 my own will but #See ch. 5:30 the will of him #See ch. 4:34who sent me. 39And #ch. 10:28, 29; Matt. 18:14 this is the will of him who sent me, #ch. 17:12; 18:9 that I should lose nothing of #ver. 37 all that he has given me, but #ver. 40, 44, 54; [ch. 11:25; 1 Cor. 6:14]raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who #ch. 12:45; 14:17, 19 looks on the Son and #ver. 47; ch. 3:15, 16 believes in him #ver. 27, 54; ch. 4:14should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, #ver. 33, 35, 38“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They said, #See Matt. 13:55 “Is not this Jesus, #See ch. 1:45 the son of Joseph, whose father and mother #ch. 7:27, 28we 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 #ch. 12:32; Jer. 31:3; Hos. 11:4; [ver. 65; ch. 4:23] draws him. And #ver. 39I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, #Cited from Isa. 54:13; [Jer. 31:33, 34; Heb. 8:10, 11] ‘And they will all be #1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess. 4:9; 1 John 2:20 taught by God.’ #[ver. 37]Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46#See ch. 1:18 not that anyone has seen the Father except #See ch. 7:29 he who is from God; he #[ch. 3:32; 8:38]has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, #See ch. 3:36whoever believes has eternal life. 48#See ver. 35I am the bread of life. 49#See ver. 31 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and #ver. 58they died. 50#ver. 33 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it #ver. 51, 58and not die. 51I am the living bread #ch. 3:13 that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give #ver. 57; Luke 22:19 for the life of the world is #ver. 53-56; [ch. 1:14]my flesh.”
52The Jews then #ch. 9:16; 10:19 disputed among themselves, saying, #ver. 60; ch. 3:9“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 #ver. 27 the Son of Man and drink his blood, you #See ch. 20:31have no life in you. 54Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood #See ver. 40 has eternal life, and #ver. 39I 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 #ch. 15:4, 5; 1 John 3:24; 4:13, 15, 16abides in me, and I in him. 57As #[ch. 5:26]; See Matt. 16:16 the living Father #See ch. 3:17 sent me, and #ch. 11:25; Rev. 1:18I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58#ver. 31, 33, 49-51This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread#6:58 Greek lacks the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59Jesus#6:59 Greek He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught #ver. 24at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 # ver. 66; [ver. 64] When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61But Jesus, #[ch. 2:24, 25]knowing 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 #ver. 27 the Son of Man #See Mark 16:19 ascending to #[ch. 17:5]; See ch. 3:13where he was before? 63#[1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6] It is the Spirit who gives life; #ch. 3:6 the flesh is no help at all. #ver. 68The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But #ver. 66 there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus #[See ver. 61 above] knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and #ver. 71; ch. 13:11who it was who would betray him.) 65And he said, “This is why I told you #ver. 44, 45; ch. 3:27that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 # ver. 60, 64 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67So Jesus said to #ver. 70, 71the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have #Acts 5:20; [ch. 12:50; 17:8]the words of eternal life, 69and #[ch. 11:27; 1 John 4:16] we have believed, and have come to know, that #See ch. 1:49 you are #See Mark 1:24the Holy One of God.” 70Jesus answered them, #See ch. 13:18 “Did I not choose you, #[See ver. 67 above] the twelve? And yet one of you is #ch. 13:2, 27; 17:12a devil.” 71He spoke of Judas #ch. 13:26 the son of Simon Iscariot, for #ver. 64, 67he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Currently Selected:
John 6: ESV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Sign up to receive news and updates about the ESV:
John 6
6
1Some time later Jesus left to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also known as the Sea of Tiberias). 2A large crowd was following him, for they'd seen his miracles of healing. 3Jesus went up a hill and sat down there with his disciples. 4The time for the Jewish festival of the Passover was approaching. 5When Jesus looked up, and saw a large crowd coming towards him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” 6He only asked this to see how Philip would respond, because Jesus already knew what he was going to do.
7“Two hundred silver coins#6:7. Literally, denarius. One denarius was worth a day's wage. wouldn't buy enough bread to give everyone only a little,” Philip replied.
8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. 9“There's a boy here who has five barley loaves and a couple of fish, but what good is that when there are so many people?”
10“Have everybody sit down,” Jesus said. There was plenty of grass there, so they all sat down, the men numbering around five thousand. 11Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and had it handed out to the people as they sat there. Then he did the same with the fishes, making sure the people had as much as they wanted. 12Once they were all full, he said to his disciples, “Collect what's left over so nothing is wasted.” 13So they collected and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves the people had eaten. 14When the people saw this miracle, they said, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world.” 15Jesus realized that they were about to force him to become their king, so he left them and went up into the hills to be by himself.
16When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17climbed into a boat, and headed across the water towards Capernaum. By now it was night and Jesus had not joined them yet. 18A strong wind began blowing and the sea grew rough. 19When they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, coming towards the boat. They were very frightened. 20“Don't be afraid!” he told them. “It's me.” 21Then they gladly took him into the boat, and immediately they reached the shore where they were going.
22The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea noticed that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but they had left without him. 23Then other boats arrived from Tiberias, landing near to the place where they'd eaten the bread after the Lord had blessed it. 24Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went over to Capernaum, looking for Jesus. 25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”#6:25. An oblique question, for they were really wondering how he got there…
26“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “you're looking for me because you ate as much bread as you wanted, not because you understood the miracles. 27Don't be preoccupied about food that doesn't last, but concentrate on the lasting food of eternal life which the Son of man will give you, for God the Father has placed his seal of approval on him.”
28So they asked him, “What should we be doing in order to do what God wants?”
29Jesus replied, “What God wants you to do is to trust in the one he sent.”
30“What miracle are you going to perform for us to see so we can trust you? What are you able to do?” they asked. 31“Our forefathers ate manna in the desert in fulfillment of the Scripture that says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”#6:31. Quoting Psalms 78:24 referring to Exodus 16:4.
32“I tell you the truth, it wasn't Moses who gave you bread from heaven,” Jesus replied. “It's my Father who gives you the true bread of heaven. 33For the bread of God is the one who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34“Lord, please give us this kind of bread all the time!” they said.
35“I am the bread of life,” Jesus replied. “Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry again, and anyone who trusts in me will never be thirsty again. 36But as I explained to you before, you have seen me,#6:36. Referring to all that Jesus had done, not just seeing his person. In fact the word “me” is not in all ancient manuscripts. but you still don't trust me. 37All those the Father gives me will come to me, and I won't reject any of them. 38For I came down from heaven not to do what I want, but to do what the one who sent me wants. 39What he wants is for me not to lose anyone he has given to me, but for me to raise them up at the last day.#6:39. “Last day,” referring to the day of judgment. Also verses 40, 44, and 54. 40What my Father wants is for everyone who sees the Son and trusts in him to have eternal life, and for me to raise them up at the last day.”
41Then the Jews began to grumble about him because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42They said, “Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and his mother. So how can he now tell us, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43“Stop grumbling to each other,” Jesus said. 44“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me attracts them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45As is written in Scripture by the prophets, ‘Everyone will be taught by God.’#6:45. Quoting Isaiah 54:13. Everyone who listens to and learns from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen God, except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth: anyone who trusts in him has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate manna in the desert but they still died. 50But this is the bread that comes down from heaven, and anyone who eats it won't ever die. 51I am the life-giving bread from heaven, and anyone who eats this bread will live forever. The bread is my flesh that I give so that the world may live.”
52Then the Jews argued heatedly among themselves. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
53Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you cannot truly live. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood remain in me, and I remain in them. 57Just as the life-giving Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. 58Now this is the bread that came down from heaven, not the kind your forefathers ate and still died. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.”
59Jesus explained this while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum. 60Many of his disciples when they heard it said, “This is hard to accept! Who can follow#6:60. “Follow” not only in the sense of “understand,” but also “observe” or “agree with.” it?”
61Jesus saw that his disciples were complaining about this, so he asked them, “Are you offended by this? 62Then what if you were to see the Son ascend to where he was before? 63The Spirit gives life; the physical body doesn't do anything.#6:63. Or “counts for nothing.” The words I've told you are spirit and life! 64Yet there are some of you who don't trust me.” (Jesus had known from the very beginning who didn't trust him, and who would betray him.)
65Jesus added, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is made possible#6:65. Or “granted.” by the Father.”
66From this time on many of Jesus' disciples gave up and no longer followed him. 67Then Jesus asked the twelve disciples, “What about you? You don't want to leave as well, do you?”
68Simon Peter answered, “Lord, who would we follow? You're the one who has the words of eternal life. 69We trust in you, and we're convinced that you are God's Holy One.”
70Jesus replied, “Didn't I choose you, the twelve disciples? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71(Jesus was referring to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. He was the one of the twelve disciples who would betray Jesus.)
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com