Mark 8:1-9

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.