“How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, 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.
- BSB “Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them. And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
- NKJV But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
- NASB But He *said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they *said, “Five, and two fish.”
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 asked what they had, and they found five loaves and two fish. He begins with their small resources to display His provision.
Overview
Rather than creating from nothing, Jesus took the meager supply already at hand. The smallness of the provision underscores the greatness of the miracle to come. The pattern shows that Christ delights to multiply what is offered to Him, however little, when surrendered into His hands.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Matt 15:34Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
- Mark 8:5He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”
- John 6:9“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”
- Matt 14:17–18They told him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”
- Luke 9:13But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.”
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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 6:38 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.