I Am the Bread of Life

22 On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only ^done boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord ^ehad given thanks. 24 ^fSo when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and ^gwent to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ^h“Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ⁱyou are seeking me, not because you saw ^jsigns, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 ^kDo not work for the food that perishes, but for ^lthe food that endures to eternal life, which ^mthe Son of Man will give to you. For on ⁿhim God the Father has ^oset his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing ^pthe works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, ^qthat you believe in him whom ^rhe has sent.” 30 So they said to him, ^s“Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 ^tOur fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ^u‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is ^vhe who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, ^w“Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, ^x“I am the bread of life; ^ywhoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 ^zAll that ^athe Father gives me will come to me, and ^bwhoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For ^cI have come down from heaven, not to do ^dmy own will but ^dthe will of him ^ewho sent me. 39 And ^fthis is the will of him who sent me, ^gthat I should lose nothing of ^hall that he has given me, but ⁱraise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who ^jlooks on the Son and ^kbelieves in him ^lshould have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, ^m“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, ⁿ“Is not this Jesus, ^othe son of Joseph, whose father and mother ^pwe know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me ^qdraws him. And ^rI will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ^s‘And they will all be ^ttaught by God.’ ^uEveryone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 ^vnot that anyone has seen the Father except ^whe who is from God; he ^xhas seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, ^ywhoever believes has eternal life. 48 ^zI am the bread of life. 49 ^aYour fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and ^bthey died. 50 ^cThis is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it ^dand not die. 51 I am the living bread ^ethat came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give ^ffor the life of the world is ^gmy flesh.”

52 The Jews then ^hdisputed among themselves, saying, ⁱ“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 ^jthe Son of Man and drink his blood, you ^khave no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood ^lhas eternal life, and ^mI will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood ⁿabides in me, and I in him. 57 As ^othe living Father ^psent me, and ^qI live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 ^rThis is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread¹ the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus² said these things in the synagogue, as he taught ^sat Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life

60 ^tWhen many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, ^vknowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see ^wthe Son of Man ^xascending to ^ywhere he was before? 63 ^zIt is the Spirit who gives life; ^athe flesh is no help at all. ^bThe words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But ^cthere are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus ^vknew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and ^dwho it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you ^ethat no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

66 ^fAfter this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to ^gthe twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have ^hthe words of eternal life, 69 and ⁱwe have believed, and have come to know, that ^jyou are ^kthe Holy One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, ^l“Did I not choose you, ^gthe twelve? And yet one of you is ^ma devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas ⁿthe son of Simon Iscariot, for ^ohe, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

Traditions and Commandments

1 ^pNow when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes ^qwho had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were ^rdefiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,¹ holding to ^sthe tradition of ^tthe elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.² And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as ^uthe washing of ^vcups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.³) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to ^sthe tradition of ^tthe elders, ^wbut eat with ^rdefiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you ^xhypocrites, as it is written,

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of ^arejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ^b‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ^c‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)⁴— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus ^dmaking void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

What Defiles a Person

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, ^e“Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 ^fThere is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”⁵ 17 And when he had entered ^gthe house and left the people, ^hhis disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then ⁱare you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart ^jbut his stomach, and is expelled?”⁶ (^kThus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, ^l“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, ^mmurder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, ⁿsensuality, ^oenvy, ^pslander, ^qpride, ^rfoolishness. 23 ^sAll these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Traditions and Commandments

1 ^eThen Pharisees and ^fscribes came to Jesus ^ffrom Jerusalem and said, 2 ^g“Why do your disciples break ^hthe tradition of the elders? ^jFor they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ^k‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ^l‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”¹ 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have ^mmade void the word² of God. 7 ⁿYou hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

What Defiles a Person

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, ^q“Hear and understand: 11 ^rit is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were ^soffended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, ^t“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted ^uwill be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; ^vthey are blind guides.³ And ^wif the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, ^x“Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, ^y“Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that ^zwhatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?⁴ 18 But ^awhat comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come ^bevil thoughts, ^cmurder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, ^dslander. 20 ^eThese are what defile a person. But ^fto eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”