Limitless Word
Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
Matthew 16:9 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
  • KJV Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
  • BSB Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
  • NASB Do you not yet understand nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up?
  • NLT Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up?

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 reminds them of the five loaves that fed five thousand and the baskets left over. It matters because remembering his past provision should strengthen present faith.

Overview

Jesus appeals to recent memory: the feeding of the five thousand and its abundant leftovers. Their forgetfulness exposes how quickly faith fades when not nourished by remembrance. He calls them to reason from what they have seen to confidence in his power. Recalling God's past works is a biblical antidote to present anxiety.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Matt 14:17–21They told him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”
  • John 6:9–13“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”
  • Luke 9:13–17But 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.”
  • Mark 6:38–44He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
  • Matt 15:16–17So Jesus said, “Do you also still not understand?
  • Rev 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
  • Luke 24:25–27He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
  • Mark 7:18He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Matthew videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Matthew 16:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MatthewMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'

How Matthew 16:9 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.