Mark 6:31-46

³¹He said to them, “Come with me to a place where no people are living, in order that we can be alone and rest a little while!” He said this because many people were continually coming to them and going away again, with the result that Jesus and his disciples did not have time to eat or do anything else.

³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a place where no people were living.

³³But many people saw them leaving. They also recognized that they were Jesus and the disciples, and they saw where they were going. So they ran ahead on land from all the nearby towns to the place where Jesus and his disciples were going. They actually arrived there before Jesus and the disciples.

³⁴As Jesus and his disciples got out of the boat, Jesus saw this large crowd. He felt sorry for them because they were confused, like sheep that do not have a shepherd. So he taught them many things.

³⁵Late in the afternoon, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a place where no people live and it is very late.

³⁶So send the people away in order that they may go to the surrounding farms and villages in order that they can buy for themselves something to eat!”

³⁷But he replied, “ No, you yourselves give them something to eat!” They replied, “◄We could not buy enough bread to feed this crowd, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days!/How could we buy enough bread to feed this mob, even if we had as much money as a man earns by working 200 days?►” RHQ

³⁸But he replied to them, “How many loaves of bread do you have? Go and find out!” They went and found out and then they told him, “We have only five flat loaves and two cooked fish!”

³⁹He instructed the disciples to tell all the people to sit down on the green grass.

⁴⁰So the people sat in groups. There were 50 people in some groups and 100 people in other groups.

⁴¹Jesus took the five flat loaves and the two fish. He looked up towards heaven and thanked God for them. Then he broke the loaves and fish into pieces and kept giving them to the disciples in order that they would distribute them to the people.

⁴²Everyone ate this food until they all had enough to eat!

⁴³The disciples then collected twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and of the fish that were left over.

⁴⁴There were approximately five thousand men who ate the bread and fish. They did not even count the women and children.

⁴⁵Right away Jesus told his disciples to get into the boat and then go ahead of him to Bethsaida town, which was further around Lake Galilee. He stayed and dismissed the many people who were there.

⁴⁶After he said goodbye to the people, he went up into the hills in order to pray.