Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand(A)
6 Yeshua later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. 3 Yeshua went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. 4 The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.
5 As Yeshua saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 Yeshua asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”
8 One of Yeshua’s disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, 9 “A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”
10 Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.”
The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)
11 Yeshua took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Yeshua told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.
14 When the people saw the miracle Yeshua performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Yeshua realized that the people intended to take him by force and make him king. So he returned to the mountain by himself.
Jesus Walks on the Sea(B)
16 When evening came, his disciples went to the sea. 17 They got into a boat and started to cross the sea to the city of Capernaum. By this time it was dark, and Yeshua had not yet come to them. 18 A strong wind started to blow and stir up the sea.
19 After they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Yeshua walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they became terrified.
20 Yeshua told them, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”
21 So they were willing to help Yeshua into the boat. Immediately, the boat reached the shore where they were going.
Jesus Is the Bread of Life
22 On the next day the people were still on the other side of the sea. They noticed that only one boat was there and that Yeshua had not stepped into that boat with his disciples. The disciples had gone away without him. 23 Other boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord gave thanks. 24 When the people saw that neither Yeshua nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to the city of Capernaum to look for Yeshua. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Yeshua replied to them, “I can guarantee this truth: You’re not looking for me because you saw miracles. You are looking for me because you ate as much of those loaves as you wanted. 27 Don’t work for food that spoils. Instead, work for the food that lasts into eternal life. This is the food the Son of Man will give you. After all, the Father has placed his seal of approval on him.”
28 The people asked Yeshua, “What does God want us to do?”
29 Yeshua replied to them, “God wants to do something for you so that you believe in the one whom he has sent.”
30 The people asked him, “What miracle are you going to perform so that we can see it and believe in you? What are you going to do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. Scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Yeshua said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 God’s bread is the man who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”
35 Yeshua told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. 36 I’ve told you that you have seen me. However, you don’t believe in me. 37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me. 38 I haven’t come from heaven to do what I want to do. I’ve come to do what the one who sent me wants me to do. 39 The one who sent me doesn’t want me to lose any of those he gave me. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day. 40 My Father wants all those who see the Son and believe in him to have eternal life. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day.”
41 The Jews began to criticize Yeshua for saying, “I am the bread that came from heaven.” 42 They asked, “Isn’t this man Yeshua, Joseph’s son? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he say now, ‘I came from heaven’?”
43 Yeshua responded, “Stop criticizing me! 44 People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. 45 The prophets wrote, ‘God will teach everyone.’ Those who do what they have learned from the Father come to me. 46 I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. 47 I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life.
48 “I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. 50 This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. 51 I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews began to quarrel with each other. They said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Yeshua told them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. 55 My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57 The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
59 Yeshua said this while he was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. 60 When many of Yeshua’s disciples heard him, they said, “What he says is hard to accept. Who wants to listen to him anymore?”
61 Yeshua was aware that his disciples were criticizing his message. So Yeshua asked them, “Did what I say make you lose faith? 62 What if you see the Son of Man go where he was before? 63 Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life. 64 But some of you don’t believe.” Yeshua knew from the beginning those who wouldn’t believe and the one who would betray him. 65 So he added, “That is why I told you that people cannot come to me unless the Father provides the way.”
66 Yeshua’s speech made many of his disciples go back to the lives they had led before they followed Yeshua. 67 So Yeshua asked the twelve apostles, “Do you want to leave me too?”
68 Simon Peter answered Yeshua, “Lord, to what person could we go? Your words give eternal life. 69 Besides, we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Yeshua replied, “I chose all twelve of you. Yet, one of you is a devil.” 71 Yeshua meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Judas, who was one of the twelve apostles, would later betray Yeshua.