Section 72c
Feeding the five thousand
Bethsaida
| Matthew 14:15-21 | Mark 6:35-44 | Luke 9:12-17 | John 6:4-13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15As evening approached, his disciples came to him and said, “This place is desolate, and the hour is now late. Send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” | 35When the hour was already quite late, his disciples came to him and said, “This place is desolate, and the hour is now late. 36Send the people away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.” | 12As the day began to draw to a close, the twelve came up and said to Jesus, “Send the crowd away so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and provisions, for we are in a desolate place here.” | 4(Now the Jewish feast of the Passover was near.) |
| 16But Jesus said to them, “They have no need to go away0x3B you give them something to eat.” | 37But Jesus answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38aHe said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” | 13aBut he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” | 5When Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” 6(He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was about to do.) 7Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be sufficient for each of them to receive a little portion.” 8Then one of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, |
| 17They said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 18He said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said the blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20They all ate and were filled, and the disciples picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children. | 38bWhen they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39Then he directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed the food. He broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were filled, 43and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces and of the fish. 44Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men. | 13bThey said, “We have only five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for this entire group of people.” 14(For there were about five thousand men.) Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of fifty each.” 15The disciples did so, and had everyone sit down. 16Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17They all ate and were filled, and what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces. | 9“There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what good are they for so many people?” 10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” (Now there was a lot of grass in that place.) So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks, he distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples distributed them to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, and the people ate as much as they wanted. 12When they were full, Jesus said to his disciples, “Gather together the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” 13So they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the broken pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten. |
Notes
Bethsaida
Bethsaida, the “house of hunters/fishermen,” was a town east of the Jordan River and just north of the Sea of Galilee. Phillip the Tetrarch, the son of Herod the Great, extensively rebuilt the town and named it “Julias” after Julia, the wife of Augustus Caesar.
When Phillip died he was buried in Bethsaida. In this vicinity, Jesus fed the 5,000, healed a blind man, and left Bethsaida’s shore to walk on the water. This region was known for abundant fish and fowl.
The ruins of Bethsaida are 1 mile off the Sea of Galilee. Some scholars maintained that it was implausible for a fishing village to be so far from the water. There is a small harbor village right on the water and it is probable that the main city was indeed a mile away.