Section 72c
Feeding the five thousand
Bethsaida
| Matthew 14:15-21 | Mark 6:35-44 | Luke 9:12-17 | John 6:4-13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. | 35And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: 36Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. | 12And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. | 4And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. |
| 16But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. | 37He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? 38a“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” | 13aHe replied, “You give them something to eat.” | 5When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, |
| 17And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18He said, Bring them hither to me. 19And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. | 38bWhen they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” 39And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. 40And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. 41And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. 42And they did all eat, and were filled. 43And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. 44And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. | 13bThey answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.” 14For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. 15And they did so, and made them all sit down. 16Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. | 9There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? 10And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that 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.