John 6
6
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand
(Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17)
1Jesus later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). 2A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. 3Jesus went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. 4The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.
5As Jesus saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6Jesus asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.
7Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”
8One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, 9“A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”
10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)
11Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.
12When the people were full, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” 13The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.
14When the people saw the miracle Jesus performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.” 15Jesus realized that the people intended to take him by force and make him king. So he returned to the mountain by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Sea
(Matthew 14:22–33; Mark 6:45–52)
16When evening came, his disciples went to the sea. 17They got into a boat and started to cross the sea to the city of Capernaum. By this time it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18A strong wind started to blow and stir up the sea.
19After they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they became terrified.
20Jesus told them, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”
21So they were willing to help Jesus into the boat. Immediately, the boat reached the shore where they were going.
Jesus Is the Bread of Life
22On the next day the people were still on the other side of the sea. They noticed that only one boat was there and that Jesus had not stepped into that boat with his disciples. The disciples had gone away without him. 23Other boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord gave thanks. 24When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to the city of Capernaum to look for Jesus. 25When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26Jesus replied to them, “I can guarantee this truth: You’re not looking for me because you saw miracles. You are looking for me because you ate as much of those loaves as you wanted. 27Don’t work for food that spoils. Instead, work for the food that lasts into eternal life. This is the food the Son of Man will give you. After all, the Father has placed his seal of approval on him.”
28The people asked Jesus, “What does God want us to do?”
29Jesus replied to them, “God wants to do something for you so that you believe in the one whom he has sent.”
30The people asked him, “What miracle are you going to perform so that we can see it and believe in you? What are you going to do? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. Scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
32Jesus said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33God’s bread is the man who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”
35Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. 36I’ve told you that you have seen me. However, you don’t believe in me. 37Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me. 38I haven’t come from heaven to do what I want to do. I’ve come to do what the one who sent me wants me to do. 39The one who sent me doesn’t want me to lose any of those he gave me. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day. 40My Father wants all those who see the Son and believe in him to have eternal life. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day.”
41The Jews began to criticize Jesus for saying, “I am the bread that came from heaven.” 42They asked, “Isn’t this man Jesus, Joseph’s son? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he say now, ‘I came from heaven’?”
43Jesus responded, “Stop criticizing me! 44People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. 45The prophets wrote, ‘God will teach everyone.’ Those who do what they have learned from the Father come to me. 46I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. 47I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life.
48“I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. 50This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. 51I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.”
52The Jews began to quarrel with each other. They said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53Jesus told them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. 55My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
59Jesus said this while he was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. 60When many of Jesus’ disciples heard him, they said, “What he says is hard to accept. Who wants to listen to him anymore?”
61Jesus was aware that his disciples were criticizing his message. So Jesus asked them, “Did what I say make you lose faith? 62What if you see the Son of Man go where he was before? 63Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life. 64But some of you don’t believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning those who wouldn’t believe and the one who would betray him. 65So he added, “That is why I told you that people cannot come to me unless the Father provides the way.”
66Jesus’ speech made many of his disciples go back to the lives they had led before they followed Jesus. 67So Jesus asked the twelve apostles, “Do you want to leave me too?”
68Simon Peter answered Jesus, “Lord, to what person could we go? Your words give eternal life. 69Besides, we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70Jesus replied, “I chose all twelve of you. Yet, one of you is a devil.” 71Jesus meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Judas, who was one of the twelve apostles, would later betray Jesus.
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John 6: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission 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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