36. Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.”
37. “You give them something to eat,” He responded.They said to Him, “Should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat? ”
38. And He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look.”When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
39. Then He instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
40. So they sat down in ranks of hundreds and fifties.
41. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to His disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.
42. Everyone ate and was filled.
43. Then they picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish.
44. Now those who ate the loaves were 5,000 men.
45. Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd.
46. After He said good-bye to them, He went away to the mountain to pray.
47. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land.
48. He saw them being battered as they rowed, because the wind was against them. Around three in the morning He came toward them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them.
49. When they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out;
50. for they all saw Him and were terrified. Immediately He spoke with them and said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
51. Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded,
52. because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.
53. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and beached the boat.
54. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him.