John 6

¹ After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee -- or of Tiberias-

² and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he had done in curing the sick.

³ Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with his disciples.

⁴ The time of the Jewish Passover was near.

⁵ Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, 'Where can we buy some bread forthese people to eat?'

⁶ He said this only to put Philip to the test; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered, 'Two hundred denari would not buy enough to give them a little piece each.'

⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said,

⁹ 'Here is a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that among so many?'

¹⁰ Jesus said to them, 'Make the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass there, and as many as fivethousand men sat down.

¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting there; he thendid the same with the fish, distributing as much as they wanted.

¹² When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, 'Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing iswasted.'

¹³ So they picked them up and fil ed twelve large baskets with scraps left over from the meal of fivebarley loaves.

¹⁴ Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, 'This is indeed the prophet who is to come into theworld.'

¹⁵ Jesus, as he realised they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, fled back tothe hil s alone.

¹⁶ That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the sea

¹⁷ and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea. It was getting dark by nowand Jesus had stil not rejoined them.

¹⁸ The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough.

¹⁹ They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming towards theboat. They were afraid,

²⁰ but he said, 'It's me. Don't be afraid.'

²¹ They were ready to take him into the boat, and immediately it reached the shore at the place they weremaking for.

²² Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and thatJesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves.

²³ Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten.

²⁴ When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats andcrossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'

²⁶ Jesus answered: In al truth I tel you, you are looking for me not because you have seen the signs butbecause you had al the bread you wanted to eat.

²⁷ Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son ofman wil give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.

²⁸ Then they said to him, 'What must we do if we are to carry out God's work?'

²⁹ Jesus gave them this answer, 'This is carrying out God's work: you must believe in the one he hassent.'

³⁰ So they said, 'What sign wil you yourself do, the sight of which wil make us believe in you? What workwil you do?

³¹ Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'

³² Jesus answered them: In al truth I tel you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, itis my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread;

³³ for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

³⁴ 'Sir,' they said, 'give us that bread always.'

³⁵ Jesus answered them: I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me wil ever hunger; no one whobelieves in me wil ever thirst.

³⁶ But, as I have told you, you can see me and stil you do not believe.

³⁷ Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes tome,

³⁸ because I have come from heaven, not to do my own wil , but to do the wil of him who sent me.

³⁹ Now the wil of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of al that he has given to me, but that Ishould raise it up on the last day.

⁴⁰ It is my Father's wil that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that Ishould raise that person up on the last day.

⁴¹ Meanwhile the Jews were complaining to each other about him, because he had said, 'I am the breadthat has come down from heaven.'

⁴² They were saying, 'Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. How can henow say, "I have come down from heaven?" '

⁴³ Jesus said in reply to them, 'Stop complaining to each other.

⁴⁴ 'No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I wil raise that person up onthe last day.

⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets: They wil al be taught by God; everyone who has listened to the Father,and learnt from him, comes to me.

⁴⁶ Not that anybody has seen the Father, except him who has his being from God: he has seen theFather.

⁴⁷ In al truth I tel you, everyone who believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸ I am the bread of life.

⁴⁹ Your fathers ate manna in the desert and they are dead;

⁵⁰ but this is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die.

⁵¹ I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;and the bread that I shal give is my flesh, for the life of the world.'

⁵² Then the Jews started arguing among themselves, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'

⁵³ Jesus replied to them: In al truth I tell you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink hisblood, you have no life in you.

⁵⁴ Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shal raise that person up onthe last day.

⁵⁵ For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person.

⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me wil also draw lifefrom me.

⁵⁸ This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: theyare dead, but anyone who eats this bread wil live for ever.

⁵⁹ This is what he taught at Capernaum in the synagogue.

⁶⁰ After hearing it, many of his fol owers said, 'This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?'

⁶¹ Jesus was aware that his fol owers were complaining about it and said, 'Does this disturb you?

⁶² What if you should see the Son of man ascend to where he was before?

⁶³ 'It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spiritand they are life.

⁶⁴ 'But there are some of you who do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the outset who did not believeand who was to betray him.

⁶⁵ He went on, 'This is why I told you that no one could come to me except by the gift of the Father.'

⁶⁶ After this, many of his disciples went away and accompanied him no more.

⁶⁷ Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'What about you, do you want to go away too?'

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life,

⁶⁹ and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'

⁷⁰ Jesus replied to them, 'Did I not choose the Twelve of you? Yet one of you is a devil.'

⁷¹ He meant Judas son of Simon Iscariot, since this was the man, one of the Twelve, who was to betrayhim.