Markus 6:30-34

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

6:30 Then ¹  the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. 6:31 He said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat). 6:32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to some remote place. 6:33 But many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they hurried on foot ²  from all the towns ³  and arrived there ahead of them. ⁴  6:34 As Jesus ⁵  came ashore ⁶  he saw the large crowd and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So ⁷  he taught them many things.

Markus 6:50-56

6:50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them: ⁸  “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” 6:51 Then he went up with them into the boat, and the wind ceased. They were completely astonished, 6:52 because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Healing the Sick

6:53 After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret ⁹  and anchored there. 6:54 As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus. ¹⁰  6:55 They ran through that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever he was rumored to be. ¹¹  6:56 And wherever he would go – into villages, towns, or countryside – they would place the sick in the marketplaces, and would ask him if ¹²  they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

[6:30]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[6:33]  ² tn Grk “ran together on foot.” The idea of συντρέχω (suntrecw) is “to come together quickly to form a crowd” (L&N 15.133).

[6:33]  ³ tn Or “cities.”

[6:33]  ⁴ tc The translation here follows the reading προῆλθον (prohlqon, “they preceded”), found in א B [phone] pc lat co. Some mss (D 28 33 700 pc) read συνῆλθον (sunhlqon, “arrived there with them”), while the majority of mss, most of them late (Ì^84vid [A ˹³] Ï sy^h), conflate the two readings (προῆλθον αὐτοὺς καὶ συνῆλθον πρὸς αὐτόν, “they preceded them and came together to him”). The reading adopted here thus has better external credentials than the variants. As well, it is the harder reading internally, being changed “by copyists who thought it unlikely that the crowd on the land could have outstripped the boat” (TCGNT 78).

[6:34]  ⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:34]  ⁶ tn Grk “came out [of the boat],” with the reference to the boat understood.

[6:34]  ⁷ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate this action is the result of Jesus’ compassion on the crowd in the narrative.

[6:50]  ⁸ tn Grk “he spoke with them, and said to them.”

[6:53]  ⁹ sn Gennesaret was a fertile plain south of Capernaum (see also Matt 14:34). This name was also sometimes used for the Sea of Galilee (Luke 5:1).

[6:54]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:55]  ¹¹ tn Grk “wherever they heard he was.”

[6:56]  ¹² tn Grk “asked that they might touch.”