⁴⁸“I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Long ago your people ate the manna in the desert, and they still died. ⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven. A person can eat it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Everyone who eats some of this bread will live forever. The bread is my body. I will give it for the life of the world.”

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves. They said, “How can this man give us his body to eat?”

⁵³Jesus said to them, “What I’m about to tell you is true. You must eat the Son of Man’s body and drink his blood. If you don’t, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Anyone who eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life. I will raise him up on the last day.

⁵⁵“My body is real food. My blood is real drink. ⁵⁶Anyone who eats my body and drinks my blood remains in me. And I remain in him.

⁵⁷“The living Father sent me, and I live because of him. In the same way, those who feed on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Long ago your people ate manna and died. But those who feed on this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹He said this while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Leave Jesus

⁶⁰Jesus’ disciples heard this. Many of them said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining about his teaching. So he said to them, “Does this upset you? ⁶²What if you see the Son of Man go up to where he was before? ⁶³The Holy Spirit gives life. The body means nothing at all. The words I have spoken to you are from the Spirit. They give life. ⁶⁴But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe. And he had known who was going to hand him over to his enemies. ⁶⁵So he continued speaking. He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father helps him.”

⁶⁶From this time on, many of his disciples turned back. They no longer followed him.

⁶⁷“You don’t want to leave also, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, who can we go to? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰Then Jesus replied, “Didn’t I choose you, the 12 disciples? But one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Judas was one of the Twelve. But later he was going to hand Jesus over to his enemies.

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