Mark 6:38

He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

World English Bible

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Other translations

WEBBE

He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

BSB

“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five — and two fish.”

KJV

He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

ASV

And he saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go [and] see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

BBE

And he said to them, How much bread have you? go and see. And when they had seen, they said, Five cakes of bread and two fishes.

Original Greek

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Ὁ Ho (the) G3588 δὲ de And G1161 λέγει legei He says G3004 αὐτοῖς autois to them G846 πόσους posous How many G4214 ἄρτους artous loaves G740 ἔχετε; echete have you G2192 ὑπάγετε hupagete do go G5217 καὶ kai and G2532 ἴδετε idete do see G1492 καὶ kai And G2532 γνόντες gnontes having known G1097 λέγουσιν legousin they say G3004 πέντε pente Five G4002 καὶ kai and G2532 δύο duo two G1417 ἰχθύας ichthuas fish G2486

The early church

(Con. Evan. 2. 46) It goes on, And he saith unto them, How many loaves hare ye? go and see. The other Evangelists pass over this being done by the Lord. It goes on, And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. This, which was suggested by Andrew, as we learn from John, the other Evangelists, using the plural for the singular, have put into the mouth of the disciples.

Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

(ubi sup.) Again, in a mystical sense, the Saviour refreshes the hungry crowds at the day's decline, because, either now that the end of the world approaches, or now that the Sun of justice has set in death for us, we are saved from wasting away in spiritual hunger. He calls the Apostles to Him at the breaking of bread, intimating that daily by them our hungry souls are fed, that is, by their letters and examples. By the five loaves are figured the Five Books of Moses, by the two fishes the Psalms and Prophets.

Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

(ubi sup.) By these words He calls on His Apostles, to break bread for the people, that they might be able to testify that they had no bread, and thus the greatness of the miracle might become more known.

Bede · d. 735Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 30–44

Let not ministers do any thing or teach any thing, but what they are willing should be told to their Lord. Christ notices the frights of some, and the toils of others of his disciples, and provides rest for those that are tired, and refuge for those that are terrified. The people sought the spiritual food of Christ's word, and then he took care that they should not want bodily food. If Christ and his disciples put up with mean things, surely we may. And this miracle shows that Christ came into the world, not only to restore, but to preserve and nourish spiritual life; in him there is enough for all that come. None are sent empty away from Christ but those who come to him full of themselves. Though Christ had bread enough at command, he teaches us not to waste any of God's bounties, remembering how many are in want. We may, some time, need the fragments that we now throw away.

Read Matthew Henry on Mark 6 →

Parallel passages

The same words or events elsewhere.

Matthew 14:17 Luke 9:13 John 6:7–9

Cross-references

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.