Mark 6:30-52

³⁰Later Jesus' mob who had been sent out returned to him. They told him they were making people well, they were sending out evil spirits, they were teaching people about God, in that way, in response to Jesus' word.

³¹At that time very many people came to Jesus. They were crowding him from all sides. They did not let Jesus and his men eat. After that Jesus said to his men, “Just we will go to countryside where there are no people. We will rest for a while.”

³²They climbed into a dinghy, they went to where there were no people.

³³Many were watching them, they knew about them, and they knew where Jesus was going. They went quickly around the end of the waterhole to the far side on foot, they were ready waiting for him.

³⁴When Jesus disembarked he saw many ready waiting for him. When he saw them he felt sorry for them. He said to himself, “These people are truly in a bad way, without a boss. They are lost, like sheep without a carer.” For a long he was teaching them about God.

³⁵It became late afternoon. They were still listening to his word. His men said to him, “It is late afternoon. The towns are far away.

³⁶Send these people to the towns so they can get food for themselves.”

³⁷Jesus replied, “You give them food.” His men said to him, “We cannot give them food. We could only get food for those many people with a lot of money. We have only a little money.”

³⁸In reply he said to them, “How much damper do you have? Look.” After looking they said to him, “Five dampers and two small fish.”

³⁹He told his men, “Tell the people to sit down.” They told them to sit down on the grass in groups.

⁴⁰They sat down at his word, here 50 were in a group, over there 100 were in a group. All the others were like that, they were in groups everywhere.

⁴¹Jesus picked up their dampers, he looked upwards, he said to God, “You are the one who gave us this food. Thank you! You have helped us! You are good.” When he had said that, he broke the dampers into pieces, he gave them to his men, he said to them, “Give them to these people.” He did the same sort of thing with the two fish also.

⁴²They all ate till they were full.

⁴³After that his men picked up the leftovers, they put them in carrying dishes, they filled 12 big carrying dishes.

⁴⁴Many people ate. Five thousand men ate that food.

⁴⁵After that Jesus told his men, “Get in the dinghy, go to the other side, to Bethsaida. Later I will come to you.” They went ahead in the dinghy. Then Jesus sent all the others to their camps.

⁴⁶After that Jesus climbed up a hill to talk to God.

⁴⁷It became dark. He was staying there alone. His men were in the dinghy in the middle of the water, they were in a bad way. A big wind was blowing for them.

⁴⁸They were still trying in vain to make the dinghy go, in vain they were trying to make it go with oars (lit. 'with wood') because of the big wind. Jesus saw them from a long way off. He came to them before it was day. He was going on top of the water. He kept coming close to them.

⁴⁹His men saw him, he was following them from behind on top of the water. They did not recognise him, they were thinking something like an evil spirit was coming. They were afraid of him, they really called out with fear.

⁵⁰Jesus told them, “Don't be afraid. It is me coming. Quieten down, stay well.”

⁵¹He climbed in the dinghy with them. Right then the wind abated. His men wondered at him. They were saying to each other, “Yes, look! He was walking on top of the water. As soon as he came right then the wind abated.”

⁵²They did not understand. Earlier they saw him give food to 5,000 men from a little fish and damper. They didn't keep it in their minds. They were still thinking to themselves, “He is just a person like us.”