New Testament Stories

Feeding 5000 People

Jesus therefore took the loaves, and having giving thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated: likewise also the fish as much as they wanted. 

John 6:10 

                              Jesus went up into the hills of Galilee with His disciples. A great crowd followed Him because they had seen Him heal those who were sick.

     It was almost time for the Passover festival. Jesus looked at the crowd of people. He turned to His disciple Philip, "How are we going to get enough bread for all of them to eat?" he asked. He really just asked to see what Philip would say.

     "It would cost many dollars even to buy a tiny piece of bread for each of these people," Philip answered. Then Andrew, another one of the disciples, said "There is a boy here who brought five loaves of barley and two fishes. But what good will that do, when there are so many people?"

     Jesus said, "Ask the people to sit down. And everyone sat down on the grass. There were at least five thousand people. Jesus took the bread and thanked God for it. He gave it to the people. Then He did the same with the fish. All the people had as much as they wanted to eat.

     Then Jesus said to the disciples, gather the crumbs and small pieces so we don't waste anything." They went around and picked up all the leftover pieces, and there was so much left over that if filled twelve baskets.

     When the people saw all this, they cried out, "This has to be the prophet that God promised us!"