He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
Parallel translations
- WEB But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give them something to eat?”
- BSB But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”
- NKJV But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”
- NASB But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they *said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread, and give it to them to eat?”
- NLT But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd themselves, and they protested the impossible cost. He stretched their faith beyond their resources.
Overview
Jesus deliberately put the responsibility on the disciples to expose the limits of human ability and to teach dependence on Him. Two hundred denarii was roughly eight months' wages, far beyond their means. The command anticipates the day when, empowered by Christ, His servants would feed the multitudes with the bread of life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Kgs 4:42–44And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat.
- Mark 8:2–3I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:
- Num 11:13Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
- Matt 15:32–33Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
- Luke 9:13But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.
- Matt 14:16But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
- 2 Kgs 7:2Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
- John 6:4–10And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
- Num 11:21–23And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 6:37 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.