Mark 6:30–52

FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND

³⁰The^ay apostles^az gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. ³¹He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

³²So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, ³³but many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.^B

³⁴When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion^ba on them, because they were like sheep^bb without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.

³⁵When it grew late, his disciples^bc approached him and said, “This place is deserted,^bd and it is already late. ³⁶Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷“You give them something to eat,” he responded.

They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii^C worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

³⁸He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” ³⁹Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴²Everyone ate and was satisfied.^{be 43}They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

WALKING ON THE WATER

⁴⁵Immediately^bf he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida,^bg while he dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶After he said good-bye to them, he went away to the mountain^a to pray.^{b 47}Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. ⁴⁸He saw them straining^c at the oars,^A because the wind was against them. Very early in the morning^B he came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them. ⁴⁹When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost^d and cried out, ⁵⁰because they all saw him and were terrified.^e Immediately he spoke with them and said, “Have courage!^f It is I.^g Don’t be afraid.”^{h 51}Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded, ⁵²because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.ⁱ