For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
Parallel translations
- WEB for they hadn’t understood about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
- BSB for they had not understood about the loaves, but their hearts had been hardened.
- NKJV For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
- NASB for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
- NLT for they still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.
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
The disciples were amazed because they had not understood the feeding miracle; their hearts were hardened. It warns that even witnesses of Christ's power can be spiritually dull.
Overview
Mark candidly exposes the disciples' failure to grasp who Jesus was, despite having just seen Him feed thousands. Their hardened hearts show that spiritual perception is a gift of God, not the automatic result of witnessing miracles. The honest record reminds believers of their need for God to open eyes and soften hearts to see Christ truly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Mark 8:17–21And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?
- Luke 24:25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
- Isa 63:17O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
- Mark 16:14Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
- Matt 16:9–11Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
- Mark 7:18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
- Mark 3:5And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
- Rom 11:7What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 6:52 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.