Chapter 6

Five Thousand Fed

1 After these things aJesus went away to the other side of bthe Sea of Galilee (or cTiberias).

2 A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the 1asigns which He was performing on those who were sick.

3 Then aJesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples.

4 Now athe Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.

5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, * said to aPhilip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?”

6 This He was saying to atest him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.

7 aPhilip answered Him, “bTwo hundred 1denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.”

8 One of His adisciples, bAndrew, Simon Peter’s brother, * said to Him,

9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two afish, but what are these for so many people?”

10 Jesus said, “Have the people 1sit down.” Now there was amuch grass in the place. So the men 1sat down, in number about bfive thousand.

11 Jesus then took the loaves, and ahaving given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the bfish as much as they wanted.

12 When they were filled, He * said to His adisciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.”

13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve abaskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten.

14 Therefore when the people saw the 1sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the aProphet who is to come into the world.”

Jesus Walks on the Water

15 So Jesus, perceiving that they were 1intending to come and take Him by force ato make Him king, bwithdrew again to cthe mountain by Himself alone.

16 Now when evening came, His adisciples went down to the sea,

17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea ato Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

18 The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

19 Then, when they had rowed about 1three or four miles, they * saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened.

20 But He * said to them, “It is I; 1ado not be afraid.”

21 So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

22 The next day athe crowd that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus bhad not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone.

23 There came other small boats from aTiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the bLord chad given thanks.

24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and acame to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “aRabbi, when did You get here?”

Words to the People

26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you aseek Me, not because you saw bsigns, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

27 “Do not awork for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to beternal life, which cthe Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, dhas set His seal.”

28 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is athe work of God, that you believe in Him whom He bhas sent.”

30 So they said to Him, “aWhat then do You do for a bsign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

31 “aOur fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘bHe gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ”

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

33 “For the bread of God is 1that which acomes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”

34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, always agive us this bread.”

35 Jesus said to them, “aI am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me bwill never thirst.

36 “But aI said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

37 “aAll that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

38 “For aI have come down from heaven, bnot to do My own will, but cthe will of Him who dsent Me.

39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of aall that He has given Me I blose nothing, but craise it up on the last day.

40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who abeholds the Son and bbelieves in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will craise him up on the last day.”

Words to the Jews

41 aTherefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that bcame down out of heaven.”

42 They were saying, “aIs not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother bwe know? How does He now say, ‘cI have come down out of heaven’?”

43 Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.

44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me adraws him; and I will braise him up on the last day.

45 “It is written ain the prophets, ‘bAnd they shall all be ctaught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

46 “aNot that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes ahas eternal life.

48 “aI am the bread of life.

49 “aYour fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

50 “This is the bread which acomes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and bnot die.

51 “aI am the living bread that bcame down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, che will live forever; and the bread also which I will give dfor the life of the world is eMy flesh.”

52 aThen the Jews bbegan to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of athe Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.

54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will araise him up on the last day.

55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.

56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood aabides in Me, and I in him.

57 “As the aliving Father bsent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.

58 “This is the bread which acame down out of heaven; not as bthe fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread cwill live forever.”

Words to the Disciples

59 These things He said ain the synagogue as He taught bin Capernaum.

60 Therefore many of His adisciples, when they heard this said, “bThis is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”

61 But Jesus, aconscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this bcause you to stumble?

62 “What then if you see athe Son of Man bascending to where He was before?

63 “aIt is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; bthe words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

64 “But there are asome of you who do not believe.” For Jesus bknew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and cwho it was that would 1betray Him.

65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have asaid to you, that no one can come to Me unless bit has been granted him from the Father.”

Peter’s Confession of Faith

66 As a result of this many of His adisciples bwithdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

67 So Jesus said to athe twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”

68 aSimon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have bwords of eternal life.

69 “We have believed and have come to know that You are athe Holy One of God.”

70 Jesus answered them, “aDid I Myself not choose you, bthe twelve, and yet one of you is ca devil?”

71 Now He meant Judas athe son of Simon Iscariot, for he, bone of cthe twelve, 1was going to betray Him.