Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
1 rAfter this Jesus went away to the other side of the sSea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw tthe signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 uNow the Passover, vthe feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, w“Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, x“Two hundred ydenarii1 worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had zeaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, a“This is indeed bthe Prophet who is to come into the world!”
15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Jesus Walks on Water
16 cWhen evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles,2 they saw Jesus dwalking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, e“It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 fThen they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
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 one 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 gLord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, hseeking Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not ibecause you saw signs, but jbecause you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his kseal.” 28 Then they said to him, l“What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, m“This is the work of God, nthat you obelieve in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then pwhat sign do you do, that we may qsee and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the rmanna in the wilderness; as it is written, s‘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 ttrue bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who ucomes down from heaven and vgives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, wgive us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, x“I am the bread of life; whoever ycomes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me zshall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father agives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, bnot to do my own will but cthe will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, dthat I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that eeveryone who looks on the Son and fbelieves in him should have eternal life, and I will graise him up on the last day.”
41 So hthe Jews igrumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, j“Is not this Jesus, kthe son of Joseph, whose father and mother lwe 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 draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, m‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 nnot that anyone has oseen the Father except he who is pfrom God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, qwhoever believes has eternal life. 48 rI am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you seat the flesh of the Son of Man and tdrink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is utrue food, and my blood is true drink. 56 vWhoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood wabides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and xI live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will ylive zbecause of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread3 the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus4 said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” 61 But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you atake offense at this? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man bascending to where he was before? 63 cIt is the Spirit who gives life; dthe flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are espirit and flife. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For gJesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me hunless it is granted him by the Father.”
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that iyou are the jHoly One of God.” 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not kchoose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to lbetray him.
Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A oMaskil1 of Asaph.
1 O God, why do you pcast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the qsheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have rpurchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the stribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
5 They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.2
6 And all its tcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They uset your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, v“We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 wWe do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 xHow long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why do you yhold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 zYou divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters4 on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of aLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 bYou split open springs and brooks;
cyou dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 dYours is the day, yours also the night;
eyou have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 fYou have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
gdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 hHave regard for ithe covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, defend your cause;
jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
