John 6
I Am the Bread That Came Down from Heaven
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The Feeding of the Five Thousand
6:1After these things Jesus went away across the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias.
6:2A great crowd followed Him, because they were seeing the signs He did upon the sick.
6:3Jesus went up the mountain and sat there with His disciples.
6:4Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
6:5So Jesus lifted His eyes and, seeing that a great crowd was coming toward Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy loaves so that these people may eat?”
6:6He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He was about to do.
6:7Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of loaves are not enough for them, so that each may receive even a little.”
6:8One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,
6:9“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are these among so many?”
6:10Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
6:11Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those reclining, and likewise from the fish, as much as they wanted.
6:12When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather the remaining fragments, so that nothing may be lost.”
6:13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that remained over from those who had eaten.
6:14When the people saw the sign He did, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is coming into the world.”
6:15So Jesus, knowing that they were about to come and seize Him to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain, Himself alone.
Walking on the Sea
6:16When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea.
6:17They entered a boat and were going across the sea toward Capernaum. Darkness had already come, and Jesus had not yet come to them,
6:18and the sea was being stirred up by a great wind blowing.
6:19So when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking upon the sea and drawing near the boat, and they were afraid.
6:20But He said to them, “It is I; do not fear.”
6:21Then they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and at once the boat was at the land to which they were going.
The Crowd Seeks Jesus
6:22The next day, the crowd standing across the sea saw that there had been no other small boat there except one, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but His disciples had gone away alone.
6:23But small boats came from Tiberias near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
6:24So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves entered the small boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
6:25Finding Him across the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”
6:26Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I tell you: you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate from the loaves and were filled.
6:27Work not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for upon Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”
6:28So they said to Him, “What are we to do, so that we may work the works of God?”
6:29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the One He sent.”
What Sign, Then, Do You Do?
6:30So they said to Him, “What sign, then, do You do, so that we may see and believe You? What work do You perform?
6:31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
6:32So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I tell you: Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
6:33For the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
6:34So they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
I Am the Bread of Life
6:35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to Me will certainly not hunger, and the one who believes in Me will certainly never thirst.
6:36But I told you that you have both seen Me and do not believe.
6:37Everything the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out,
6:38because I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of the One who sent Me.
6:39And this is the will of the One who sent Me: that of everything He has given Me I should lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
6:40For this is My Father’s will: that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Grumbling over the Bread from Heaven
6:41So the Jews grumbled concerning Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
6:42And they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
6:43Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
6:44No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
6:45It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard from the Father and learned comes to Me.
6:46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.
6:47Amen, amen, I tell you: the one who believes has eternal life.
6:48I am the bread of life.
6:49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died.
6:50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that someone may eat from it and not die.
6:51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.”
Flesh and Blood
6:52So the Jews disputed with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
6:53So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I tell you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
6:54The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
6:55For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
6:56The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.
6:57Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who eats Me will also live because of Me.
6:58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
6:59He said these things while teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Turn Back
6:60So many of His disciples, when they heard, said, “This saying is hard. Who can hear it?”
6:61But Jesus, knowing within Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?
6:62Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where He was before?
6:63The Spirit is the One who gives life; the flesh benefits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
6:64But there are some among you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would hand Him over.
6:65And He said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been given to him from the Father.”
From This, Many of His Disciples Turned Back
6:66From this, many of His disciples went back and no longer walked with Him.
6:67So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
6:68Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
6:69And we have believed and have known that You are the Holy One of God.”
6:70Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”
6:71He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, for this man was about to hand Him over, one of the Twelve.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.