Mark 8:1-21

1At that time, another large crowd had come to hear Jesus. The people had nothing to eat. Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said to them,

2‘I feel sorry for this crowd. They have been here with me now for three days and they do not have any food.

3I do not want to send them back to their homes while they are hungry. They might fall down during their journey because they are weak. Some of them have travelled a long way to come here.’

4The disciples replied, ‘This place is far from any houses. We cannot get enough bread to feed all these people.’

5‘How many loaves of bread do you have?’ Jesus asked. ‘We have seven loaves,’ they replied.

6Jesus told the crowd that they should sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves in his hands and he thanked God for them. Then he broke the bread and he gave the pieces to his disciples. The disciples gave the bread to the people.

7The disciples also had a few small fish, so Jesus thanked God for these. Then he told his disciples to give the fish to the people too.

8The people ate, and they all had enough food. After the people had eaten, there were still lots of small pieces of food. Jesus' disciples filled seven baskets with these pieces.

9About 4,000 people were there and ate the food. Then Jesus sent the people away.

10Immediately, he got into the boat with his disciples. They all returned to the part of the country called Dalmanutha.

11Some Pharisees came to Jesus. They began to argue with him. They wanted to see him do something powerful. That would show them that God had really sent him.

12Jesus cried with a low, sad sound. He said, ‘People who are alive today want God to show them something powerful. But I tell you this: God will not do the powerful thing for them that they want.’

13Then Jesus left those Pharisees. He got back into the boat to go to the other side of the lake.

14Jesus' disciples had forgotten to take bread with them. They only had one loaf in the boat.

15Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful. Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees or the yeast of Herod.’

16The disciples began to say to each other, ‘Jesus is saying that because we do not have any bread.’

17Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing about the bread. You still do not understand my teaching. You seem unable to learn.

18You are like people who have eyes but they cannot see with them. You are like people who have ears but they cannot hear with them.

19Remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. How many baskets did you fill with pieces of food that were left?’ ‘There were 12 baskets,’ they replied.

20Jesus asked them, ‘I also used seven loaves to feed 4,000 people. That time, how many baskets did you fill with pieces of food?’ ‘There were seven baskets,’ they replied.

21‘You really should understand about me now,’ he said to them.